JSE announces changes to the FTSE/JSE Africa Index Series

The FTSE/JSE Advisory Committee met yesterday to conclude the quarterly index review of the FTSE/JSE Indices.

“Each quarter the JSE together with FTSE conduct a very through analysis of the constituents of the index in accordance with the rules of that particular index,” comments Jannie Immelman, Senior GM: Information Services, at the JSE. “This process is vital to ensure that the indices reflect the reality of the market, whilst limiting the number of changes (during the year) to ensure that the indices can be tracked efficiently.”

The FTSE/JSE Advisory Committee has announced several changes to the FTSE/JSE indices, including the following important changes to the blue chip Top 40 index: Aspen Pharmacare Holdings and Discovery Holdings will be included in the index replacing Mondi Limited and Sappi Limited.

“For a company, one of the advantages of being included in an index is the visibility that it brings to that company. With the growing popularity of passive investment tools, like Exchange Traded Funds (ETF), inclusion in an index is also bound to attract more investments into that company,” says Immelman. “It is interesting to note that recently, for the first time in history, the amount of capital invested in US ETF’s has outpaced the amount invested in unit trusts.”

All changes relating to constituents, sectors, free float and shares in issue will be applied after the close of business on 20th March 2009 and will be effective at the start of business on Monday 23rd March 2009. Detail of these changes are available on our website (www.jse.co.za follow the FTSE/JSE tab at the top of the page).