The FTSE Russian IOB Index is designed to measure the performance of Russia's 10 biggest and most liquid companies trading on the London Stock Exchange's International Order Book (IOB) under Russian Depositary Receipts, FTSE said in a statement.
The ten companies on the index are energy giant Gazprom, oil and gas companies LUKoil and Surgutneftegaz, metals giant Norilsk Nickel, electricity monopoly Unified Energy System (UES), state-controlled oil company Rosneft, oil and gas company Novatek, telecoms, media and banking corporation AFK Sistema, and steel producers Novolipetsk Steel and Evraz Group.
The FTSE Russian IOB Index has a starting value of 1,000 points. The index is calculated in U.S. dollars during the trading hours of the London Stock Exchange's International Order Book (from 09.00 to 15:40 London time) and published both on a real-time basis (in U.S. dollars), and at the end of each trading day (in U.S. dollars, pounds sterling and euros). The index will be reviewed quarterly, and the list of companies may alter depending on company trading volumes.
About 20 Russian companies currently trade on the London Stock Exchange under Russian Depositary Receipts. The volume of trading in their securities on the LSE's International Order Book grew more than 200%, year-on-year, in the first nine months of 2006 to $164.2 billion.
The index is designed for investors, market analysts and consulting firms conducting or intending to launch business activities in Russia, or to invest in the equity of Russian companies, the LSE said.
On October 27, at the end of its first week, the FTSE Russian IOB Index closed at 1,085.8 points.
FTSE is an independent company owned by The Financial Times and the LSE whose sole business is to create and manage indices and associated data services internationally. As well as the famous FTSE 100 index, it operates hundreds of real-time indices worldwide.
