FTSE Group (FTSE), the global index provider, and the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TSEC) today announce the launch of two new indices in the TSEC Taiwan Index Series, the TSEC Taiwan Eight Industries Index and the TSEC Taiwan Dividend+ Index, two new tradable indices created and maintained by FTSE for the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TSEC). Both are highly liquid tradable indices, designed to act as the basis for funds, structured products and derivative products in Taiwan, and have been developed in direct response to market demand.
These two new indices offer both domestic and international investors a cost effective exposure to the Taiwanese market. The TSEC Taiwan Eight Industries Index is based on the globally recognised Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) classification to allow investors to diversify their portfolio into key industries such as Basic Materials, Industrials, and Consumer Goods.
The TSEC Taiwan Dividend+ Index introduces enhanced return indexing to the Taiwan market for the first time. By selecting the 30 highest yielding stocks from the TSEC Taiwan 50 and Mid-Cap 100 Indices and applying forecast weightings and liquidity criteria, total returns are increased for the investor.
Paul Hoff, Managing Director of FTSE Asia Pacific, said “The combination of FTSE’s global indexing expertise and TSEC’s local market knowledge offers investors an attractive set of tools to facilitate investment in this dynamic market. Adding to the already comprehensive set of indices that FTSE designs for the Taiwanese market, we are confident that these two new indices will give investors the breadth of options to further diversify their Taiwanese portfolios.”
Nai-kuan Huang, Executive Vice President of Research & Development Dept. of TSEC, said “TSEC Taiwan Eight Industries Index, excluding financial and technology stocks, complements the existing TSEC Taiwan Technology Index and provides investors an additional benchmark to overcome rotating industry cycles. TSEC Taiwan Dividend+ Index, weighted by one-year forecast dividend yield, catches up with fundamental indexing trend and serves as an ideal underlying for investors to pursue long–term steadily growing cash dividend benefits instead of capital gains. Following the introduction of these two new indices, TSEC Taiwan Index Series will be upgraded to a multi-dimensional index family to measure Taiwan market performance.“
The TSEC Taiwan 50 Index, the first index in the TSEC Taiwan Index Series, is a highly liquid tradable index launched in 2002. It was the first index of its kind to be developed for the Taiwan market and today is the basis of the Polaris’s Taiwan Top50 Tracker Fund (TTT), one of the largest Exchange-Traded Funds in Asia, with AUM of USD 1,127,173,173 as of 29 December 2006.
Full details of the TSEC Taiwan Index Series, including constituents and performance information can be accessed at www.ftse.com/taiwan
