FTSE Xinhua Index Announces Review Results - Ping An Insurance Added TO THE FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index

FTSE Xinhua Index (FXI), the independent China index provider, held its quarterly Index Committee meeting on Tuesday to review and approve constituent changes on the FTSE Xinhua China Index Series. The changes for the FTSE/Xinhua China A 50, A 200, A 400, A 600, A Small Cap and B 35 indices will become effective after the close of business on Friday 15 October 2004 (i.e. on Monday, 18 October 2004).

In its July annual Committee meeting, the committee announced that B shares would be removed from the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index, effective at this October review. Accordingly, the only B share stock, Guangdong Electric Power Development (200539), was deleted from the index. It has been replaced by Ping An Insurance (H) (2318). Recently, Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has selected this index as the underlying benchmark for the first China-only ETF for US investors.

The FTSE/Xinhua China A 50 Index will have two additions and two deletions. China Vanke (000002) and Kweichow Moutai (600519) will be added, bringing the investable market cap of the index to USD 1,711 million (RMB 14201.3 million).

All the FTSE Xinhua indices have been reviewed by the independent Index Committee based on transparent Ground Rules to ensure consistency, liquidity and investability. There are no investability weight changes to any of the indices at this review.

Full details of all additions and deletions can be found at
http://www.ftse.com/indices_marketdata/xinhua/index_changes.jsp.