NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced that the Dow Jones BRIC Brazil 15, the Dow Jones BRIC India 15, the Dow Jones BRIC China 15 and the Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10 indexes have been licensed to BNP Paribas Asset Management to serve as the basis for four exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The EasyETF DJ Brazil 15, EasyETF DJ India 15, EasyETF DJ China 15, and EasyETF DJ Russia Titans 10 will be available on NYSE Euronext Paris today.
This is the first time that the Dow Jones BRIC indexes for Brazil, India and China have been licensed for ETFs.
The Dow Jones BRIC Brazil 15 Index measures the performance of 15 leading blue-chip companies whose stocks trade on the Bovespa stock exchange in Brazil. The Dow Jones BRIC India 15 Index comprises 15 of the largest and most liquid stocks traded on the Bombay and National stock exchanges of India. The Dow Jones BRIC China 15 Index includes 15 major blue-chip stocks whose primary operations are in mainland China, but whose stocks trade on the Hong Kong Stock exchange or at a major U.S. stock exchange. These three sub-indexes are derived from the composite Dow Jones BRIC 50 Index, which covers Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10 represents the 10 largest and most liquid Russian Depositary Receipts (DRs) that trade on the London Stock Exchange.
"While the downturn in markets decreased risk appetite across most asset classes, as the global economy begins to turn around market participants are reverting to a long term view and showing renewed interest in these thriving economies. The Dow Jones BRIC indexes for Brazil, India and China, as well as the Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10, are superior benchmarks that measure the performance of some of the most sought-after emerging markets by institutional and retail investors," said Ricardo Manrique, chief executive officer, STOXX Ltd., the joint venture which is responsible for Dow Jones Indexes' business development in Europe. "BNP Paribas Asset Management's decision to list ETFs on these country indexes complements the existing ETF based on the Dow Jones BRIC 50 Index, which reflects the broad view of all these countries in a single index."
Daniele Tohme-Adet, head of EasyETF and indexed funds development, BNP Paribas Asset Management, said: "The licensing of the Dow Jones BRIC Brazil 15, Dow Jones BRIC India 15, Dow Jones BRIC China 15 and Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10 indexes enables us to create accurate tools for an efficient tactical allocation within the BRIC zone. The new EasyETFs together with the existing EasyETF DJ BRIC 50 offer market participants homogeneous tool boxes for their emerging market exposure."
The Dow Jones BRIC Brazil 15 Index, Dow Jones BRIC India 15 Index and Dow Jones BRIC China 15 Index were launched on June 7, 2006. Daily historical data is available back to December 31, 2002. The indexes are available in price and total return versions, and are reviewed annually in September. The indexes are weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization, and each component's weight is capped at 10% of the respective index's total free-float market capitalization. The Dow Jones BRIC Brazil 15 Index is calculated in U.S. dollar, euro and Brazilian real. The Dow Jones BRIC India 15 Index is calculated in U.S. dollar, euro and Indian rupee. The Dow Jones BRIC China 15 Index is calculated in U.S. dollar and euro.
The Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10 was launched on July 3, 2003. Daily historical data is available back to December 31, 1991. The index is available in price and total return versions, and calculated in U.S. dollar, euro and Russian ruble. It is reviewed annually in March. The index is weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization, and each component's weight is capped at 10% of the index's total free-float market capitalization.
Further information on the Dow Jones BRIC Brazil 15, the Dow Jones BRIC India 15 and the Dow Jones BRIC China 15 indexes as well as the Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10 can be found on www.djindexes.com.
Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to PR-Indexes@dowjones.com.
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