Datastream Advance: Getting Started

Datastream Advance provides Lingnan users with access to a huge variety of financial and economic data with an easy-to-use interface. Users can access financial statements, accounting ratios, price information of listed companies in the world; exchange rates, interest rates and thousands of economic time series from many countries in the world. Data can also be exported using the familiar Microsoft Excel interface by the Datastream-AFO add-in. Both Datastream Advance and the MS Excel Datastream-AFO are available at the dedicated workstation at the Library. This handout provides you with a quick start to Datastream Advance. For details, please refer to the user guide placed near the dedicated workstation or ask for assistance at the Information Desk at the Library.

Click "Advanced 4.0" icon at the Dedicated workstation to begin

Datastream4.doc

1 of 21

Datastream Advance: Quick Start Generally, we can obtain a report / table / chart by five simple steps in Datastream Advance:
3) Choose the Output Program Group & Task

1) Choose a Data Category (Equity; Equity Index; Interest Rates, etc.)

5) Run and View Results

2) Use the Datastream Navigator to find the Series & Datatypes

4) Change Time Period and / or Frequencies & Settings

Step 1: Choose the Data Category Most often used data categories are: Listed companies equities (one company can be listed in more than one market) Index Local indexes (e.g. Hang Seng Index), MSCI indexes, Datastream indexes, etc. Constituents Constituents of indexes, industrial sectors, etc. Local Lists Access user-created equity list and search results Interest Rates Time series archive of interest rates in various countries Exchange Rates Time series archive of foreign exchange rates in various countries Economics Time series data of macroeconomic indicators from local sources or international organizations like UN, IMF, OECD, etc.
Datastream4.doc 2 of 21

Equity

Step 2: Search for the Series with Datastream Navigator:

Datastream4.doc

3 of 21

Select Datatype with the icon -When applicable, you may select the appropriate datatype. For example, the default datatype for equity normally is the daily closing price. You may need to use the datatype button to select something else like the P/E ratio, dividend yield, etc. for your report, data downloading or charting.

Step 3: Choose the Output Program Group & Task

Overviews for overviews, source of data, latest figures, etc.

Charts generates different kinds of charts: line, moving, average, high-low-close charts, etc.

Datastream4.doc

4 of 21

Reports company profiles, accounts ratio, profits & loss, dividend & learning, etc.

Data download time series or static data

Datastream Mnemonic Search search for the Datastream company mnemonic (company ID in Datastream) for all live or dead companies

Summaries this button only appears for List categories (Constituents, Local Lists, etc.) for creation of summary reports, charts or data downloading for a list of companies

Comparisons allows charting and data downloading of multiple series and / multiple companies Step 4: Change Time Period and Data Frequencies Advance will or will not allow you to change the settings depending on the output program that you request. For most time series, you can choose to output frequency to be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual data by clicking the Settings button.

(NOTE: if you collapse the time period, Datastream will only provide end of period data. For example, Datastream provides closing price of equity on daily basis. If you however choose to set the download frequency to monthly, Datastream will display the closing price for the last trading day of each month instead of the average price for the whole month.)

Datastream4.doc

5 of 21

Change Date Ranges: Time periods can be easily changed by using the preset buttons: (e.g. -3M means previous 3 months; -10Y means previous 10 years)

To customize date range, click the calendar icon End Date from the Configure Dates dialog box:

and choose the Start Date and

Step 5: Run and View Results

Datastream4.doc

6 of 21

Example 1. Get Overview of Company Performance of Cheung Kong Holdings Step 1: Choose the Data Category Choose Equity. Step 2: Find & Select the Series Enter CHEUNG KONG at the series field and click the Datastream Navigator button

More than one equity may appear. Choose the appropriate one based on the name of the stock, stock market, currency, base data, primary quote indicators, etc.

Datastream4.doc

7 of 21

Step 3: Choose the Output Program Group & Task Choose the first tab: Overview and the first task Overview of Company Performance. Step 4: Change Settings Use default setting. Step 5: Run and View Results

Enlarge Button

Shrink Button

Datastream4.doc

8 of 21

Example 2. Get Key Accounts Ratio Report of HSBC

Reports Tab

Step 1: Choose the Data Category Choose Equity. Step 2: Find & Select the Series Enter HSBC at series field and select the appropriate one using the Datastream Navigator Step 3: Choose the Output Program Group & Task Choose the third tab: Reports and the task Key Accounts Ratio Report (Banks). Step 4: Change Settings Use default setting. (current calendar year plus 4 more years before this) Step 5: Run and View Results

Datastream4.doc

9 of 21

Example 3. Simple Line Charts E.g. (a) Moving Average Chart for past 2 years; (b) Line Chart of Dividend Yield for past 10 years

Chart Drawing Tab

Click this to Change Datatype

Datastream4.doc

10 of 21

Example 4. Download Financial Data for All HK Clothing Companies with Market Value Over 1 Billion HK Dollars Step 1: Click Equity Search tab at the bottom and then click New Search

Step 2: Select Hong Kong under Country and add to search criteria list by clicking the + button. Then click Next

Datastream4.doc

11 of 21

Step 3: Set the Market Value over 1 Billion Criteria: choose Market Value, change Limitations and Units to Over and Billions respectively. Then click the + button to add this to the criteria list.

Select Datatype

Select Criteria

Step 4: Select Industry & Sector Mnemonics tab and choose the desired industry. Add to the list by clicking the "+" button. Then click Search Now.

Choose between industry (more specific) or sector (more general) Can choose up to 2 industries or sectors

Datastream4.doc

12 of 21

Step 5: Sort by Market Value in Descending Order. Click Search Now!

Step 6: The list of companies which meet the search criteria is displayed by market value in descending order. Save the list for further action.

Datastream4.doc

13 of 21

Step 7: Click the Request tab to go back.

Datastream4.doc

14 of 21

Step 8: The saved list is now available in the Local Lists. Switch the Category to Local Lists and you will find the list under the name previously saved in Step 6.

Use the Summaries tab to obtain summary reports with functions like company accounts or flexible report.

Summaries Tab

Datastream4.doc

15 of 21

Flexible Report provides static view for the equities in a list for up to 5 data types

Datastream4.doc

16 of 21

Example 5. Download the Unemployment Rate of HK Step 1: Choose the Data Category Choose Economics

Step 2: Find & Select the Series Click the Datastream Navigator button. Enter employment as Name; click the [] button to select the workforce & unemployment Classification; enter hong kong as Market to show available unemployment statistics for Hong Kong:

Employment

Narrow down by Broad Economic Classifications like National Accounts, Money & Finance, Labour Markets, etc.

Results Based on the Search Criteria

Datastream4.doc

17 of 21

Step 3: Choose the Output Program Group & Task Choose the fourth tab: Data Formats and the task Time Series Data

Data Displayed Here

Step 4: Change Settings and Dates Choose desired dates like -20Y for past 20 years. Click range or the to customize the date

button to set data frequency if necessary

Step 5: Run and View Results

Datastream4.doc

18 of 21

Example 6. Downloading Statistics using Excel Datastream-AFO: Looking for Imports & Exports of Goods / Imports & Exports of Services for Singapore Step 1: Open Excel at the Datastream Workstation and select Time Series option of the Datastream-AFO

Step 2: At the Time Series Request dialog box, click the Datastream Navigator button to select the desired series

Datastream4.doc

19 of 21

Limit the search to the Balance of Payments Classification; enter goods or services as Name; enter Singapore as Market:
Click "+" to get more input field

Click "OR" because we are looking for time series which contain either the word goods or services under the Balance of Payments Classification

Time Series that Match the Criteria are Dispalyed Click one at a time or use the checkbox to select multiple items

Datastream4.doc

20 of 21

Step 3: Select the series Click the name or the DS mnemonics of the time series to select it. Use the checkboxes to select multiple series at once.

DS Mnemonics of the Selected Series will show up here

Step 4: Set the dates and data frequency Select the retrieval period and frequency Step 5: Submit and Retrieve Data
Results displayed in Excel Window

Datastream4.doc

21 of 21