New Baltic indexes launched

04.12.2006 VLN

The new OMX Baltic index family covers All-Share (OMX Baltic), Benchmark (OMX Baltic Benchmark), Tradable (OMX Baltic 10) and Sector indexes, which include companies listed on the Baltic exchanges in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.

“The new Baltic index family is our answer to a growing demand from the market participants for more reliable and predictable indexes reflecting the development of the Baltic securities market. The new Baltic indexes will provide the investors better benchmark possibilities and highlight attractive investment opportunities on the whole OMX’s Baltic Market. Moreover, the methodology of the new indexes is aligned with the OMX index rules, which makes them easily comparable to the Nordic indexes,” said Johan Rudén, President of the Baltic Market business unit at OMX.

The rules of the OMX Baltic Benchmark and OMX Baltic 10 indexes were developed in close cooperation with the market participants to satisfy the needs of different investors in the Baltic market as well as provide a good basis for derivatives and structured products in the future.

The new OMX Baltic indexes will be calculated in Euro and as price (PI) and gross (GI) indexes. The OMX Baltic 10 will however only be available as a price index.

Index values of OMX Baltic 10 will be published in real time, those of OMX Baltic All-Share and OMX Baltic Benchmark will be disseminated with 60 seconds interval. The Sector indexes will be disseminated once a day after the market close.

All OMX Baltic indexes have base values of 100, and the base date is December 31, 1999. Historical time series as from the base date are available on our website www.omxgroup.com/balticmarket.

The compositions of the OMX Baltic 10 and OMX Baltic Benchmark indexes will be revised semi-annually on January 1 and July 1. The new compositions, which will come into effect on January 1, 2007, will be published on December 15, 2006.

The local all-share indexes OMX Vilnius, OMX Tallinn and OMX Riga will continue to be calculated. Only the BALTIX index will be discontinued after June 30, 2007 and replaced by the portfolio index OMX Baltic Benchmark.

More facts on the Baltic index family:

• OMX Baltic Benchmark (OMXBB) is an investible portfolio index covering the largest and most traded stocks on OMX’s Baltic Market, representing the majority of sectors (according to GICS classification). It is intended to offer a cost effective index that an investor can fully replicate. The OMXBB index is attractive for use in investment products and as a comparative index for investors. The index will consist of 25-35 companies. The weight of the constituent stocks is based on the market value adjusted by the free float. OMXBB will be available in a capped (OMXBBCAP) and uncapped version.
• OMX Baltic 10 (OMXB10) is a tradable index consisting of the 10 most actively traded shares on OMX’s Baltic Market. High liquidity of the underlying stocks provides that OMXB10 can be used as a good basis for derivatives. The weight of the constituent stocks is based on the market value adjusted by the free float. A maximum company’s weight in the index is 15%.
• OMX Baltic (OMXB) is an all-share index consisting of all the shares listed on the Main and I lists of the Baltic exchanges. The aim of the index is to reflect the current status and changes on the OMX’s Baltic Market.
• The OMX Baltic sector indexes show the trend of a specific sector and enable peer comparison between companies engaged in the same sector. The company classification is based on the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) developed by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. (MSCI) and Standard & Poor’s.