The NASDAQ index, well known as a premier listing venue for North American technology companies across the entire spectrum from the Silicon Valley giants to recently listed newcomers, has been going from strength to strength during the beginning part of this year.

At the beginning of January, the NASDAQ was resting at a relatively low point in the mid-16,300 range and has since risen to 18,318.7 at the high points of the trading day in New York yesterday, according to FXOpen pricing.

This is a considerable increase, and apart from a few small dips along the way, it has been consistent for the majority of the first quarter of the year so far.

Yesterday's trading was of great interest to those with a keen penchant for US tech stocks, as the NASDAQ's high point of 18,318.7 represented an all-time record for the index, clearly demonstrating that these days, there is a clear distinction between enthusiasm among traders for NASDAQ-listed companies compared to two years ago when there was a sustained period of low value across NASDAQ listed stocks.

Those times are gone, and the halcyon days are back. However, the euphoria subsided slightly as the trading day came to a close yesterday during the US session, as the NASDAQ, despite a rallying group of technology stocks tied to the artificial intelligence boom keeping the values high, began to make a slight climbdown from its historic high.

Trading will begin today with the NASDAQ index standing at 18,129.1 according to the bottom of the candlestick on FXOpen charts, which is still high compared to the entire history of the NASDAQ index apart from the levels it reached during yesterday's trading.

Some of the contributors to NASDAQ's highs have been long-established computer technology giants which have been pioneering AI, an example being NVIDIA, a company traditionally synonymous with the manufacture of graphics cards, which had huge traction during the cryptocurrency mining boom last decade and sustained popularity among gamers around the world.

NVIDIA stock has boomed over the past month, with some sources quoting a 22.9% increase in stock value, therefore being a significant component within NASDAQ's listed giants, which is contributing to the index's recent resurgence.

As featured in the Top 5 Stocks for March 2024, Coinbase has been doing exceptionally well, a firm whose performance has also benefited the overall stature of the NASDAQ index within which it is a component.

It could be worth considering that Tesla, with its recent introduction of discounts across its electric vehicle range having been published as this week began, placing it in direct competition in the all-important Chinese market with local manufacturer BYD and Apple, an equally important mainstay of the NASDAQ index slipping in value slightly after finding itself at the end of antitrust litigation which cost the company $1.95 billion in fines relating to allegedly abusing its dominant position in the music streaming application sector.

Overall, there is a dichotomy between the high performers, as described here, and those making lower values, which are often represented by firms which entered the NASDAQ exchange listing process via blank cheque 'SPAC' listings in 2021.

Therefore, the tech stock arena is continually interesting, given its range of highly capitalised Silicon Valley household names and intriguing upstarts compared to the more bricks-and-mortar, establishment-oriented representation on traditional exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange.

This minor volatility is indeed minor but is of great interest given the high point reached by NASDAQ this week.

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