Yesterday's stock plunge knocked about $700 billion off the market value of companies in the Wilshire 5000 index.

Over the long haul, these two Wilshire indexes have turned in quite similar results.

For the year, the Wilshire index rose $318 billion, or 13.1 percent.

Then, when the Dow plunged, the Wilshire index took off.

The Wilshire index, incidentally, is heavily weighted to favor the large companies.

Even one of the broadest measures, the Wilshire index of 5,000 stocks, dropped 3.6 percent.

More than 40 percent of the funds beat the Wilshire index in both 1994 and 1995.

And the Wilshire 5000 index rose 292.98, or 2.1 percent, to 14,346.22.

The Wilshire 5000 index, the best approximation for the entire United States stock market, has shown an even better performance.

That compares with a 72.8 percent total return for the Wilshire 5000 index, a broad stock gauge.