S&P Dow Jones Indices Continues South Africa Expansion; New Indices Meet Growing Demand for Index Based Investing

News provided by

Apr 30, 2014, 09:30 ET

JOHANNESBURG, April 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices (SPDJI) announced today that it has launched six new indices to meet the growing demand of South African investors for index based investment strategies and benchmarks. The launch of the six new indices is part of SPDJI's continuing expansion of its South African indices and comes on the heels of nine new South African indices launched by SPDJI in February.

"S&P Dow Jones Indices is aggressively expanding its index offerings in South Africa to meet the growing needs of investors here for innovative, transparent, and representative financial market indices," says Michael Orzano, director of global equity indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "We now offer an extensive set of broad market, tradable, thematic, and alternatively weighted indices designed to measure different exposures to South African equities."

The six new indices launched today by S&P Dow Jones Indices include:

S&P South Africa Composite Property: A market capitalization weighted index that includes all companies in the S&P South Africa Composite that are classified as property companies.
S&P South Africa Composite Property Capped: A modified market capitalization weighted index where no single stock weighs more than 10% of the index at each rebalancing.
S&P GIVI® South Africa Composite: Designed to track large-, mid- and small-cap companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange while delivering both lower volatility and performance weighted by intrinsic stock value rather than by traditional market capitalization.
S&P South Africa Domestic Shareholder Weighted (DSW) Index: A variation of the S&P South Africa Composite, where the float-adjusted market values of the companies are adjusted to reflect the level of ownership by South African investors. Ten (10) GICS® sector indices based upon the S&P South Africa DSW Index are also being launched.
S&P South Africa DSW Capped Index: A modified market capitalization variation of the S&P South Africa DSW Index, where no single stock weighs more than 10% of the index at each rebalancing.
S&P South Africa DSW 50: A variation of the S&P South Africa 50, where the float-adjusted market values of the companies are adjusted to reflect the level of ownership by South African investors. The index is modified market capitalization weighted, where no single stock weighs more than 10% of the index at each rebalancing.

S&P South Africa Domestic Shareholder Weighted Index sector indices will for first time allow South African investors to measure sector performance based on the Domestic Shareholder Weighted Index methodology.

Additional information on all indices launched today by S&P Dow Jones Indices can be found by accessing: www.spdji.com.

About S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a part of McGraw Hill Financial, is the world's largest global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. Home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average^TM, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 1,000,000 indices covering a wide range of asset classes across the globe, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC defines the way investors measure and trade the markets. To learn more about our company, please visit www.spdji.com.

Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC, a part of McGraw Hill Financial. Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"). These trademarks have been licensed to S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P and their respective affiliates (collectively "S&P Dow Jones Indices") do not sponsor, endorse, sell, or promote any investment fund or other investment vehicle that is offered by third parties and that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. This document does not constitute an offer of services in jurisdictions where S&P Dow Jones Indices does not have the necessary licenses. S&P Dow Jones Indices receives compensation in connection with licensing its indices to third parties.

SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices