The first index fund on NASDAQ OMX Vilnius

24.01.2011 VLN

Vilnius, January 24 – From February 1, 2011, shares of “OMX Baltic Benchmark Fund” will be admitted to the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius Fund Trading List. Such a decision was made today at the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius Management Board meeting. It is the first open-end index fund tracking OMX Baltic Benchmark GI index which belongs to the NASDAQ OMX Baltic index family.   

“We are excited to expand our trading lists with a new instrument. Index funds are popular among local and foreign investors, and this fund will be the first in the Baltic countries tracking one of the NASDAQ OMX Baltic indexes. Listing increases accessibility of this instrument to end investors, since it becomes as simple to trade the shares of this fund as the shares of any listed company. The fund will be using services of a market maker to support liquidity of this instrument,” – said Arminta Saladziene, Chairman of the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius Management Board. 

Investment funds are popular among investors because of their liquidity, diversification and transparency. Index funds stand out among other investment funds by forming an investment portfolio replicating the composition of the selected index, which allows reducing the costs of the fund management. 

„“OMX Baltic Benchmark Fund” is a very useful investment vehicle for all investors, as it gives the opportunity to invest into the index and receive returns that are close to the index performance. The advantage of the indexation strategy chosen by the fund is supported by the fact that less than 20% of all actively managed investment funds outperform the market,” – said Vaidotas Petrauskas, Director General of the OMX Baltic Benchmark Fund management company Investiciju portfeliu valdymas UAB. 

The OMX Baltic Benchmark index consists of a portfolio of the largest capitalization and most traded shares in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, representing all sectors. The index serves as an indicator of the overall trend in the market, and during 2010 the index advanced by almost 70%. The composition of the index is revised on a semi-annual basis to ensure that it offers high investability and low transaction costs. The weight of the constituent stocks is based on the market value adjusted by the free float, which means that only the part of the share capital that is considered available for trading is included in the index. 

Composition of the OMX Baltic Benchmark GI index as of January 3, 2011: 

About NASDAQ OMX

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world’s largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with more than 3,600 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com.

Media contacts:

Gintare Blazyte, Communication Manager

NASDAQ OMX Vilnius +370 5 272 34 58

gintare.blazyte@nasdaqomx.com