ICEX Announces Change In The ICEX-15 Index For The Second Half Of The Year 2001

ICEX-15, the main stock index of the Iceland Stock Exchange, includes 15 companies listed on the Main List. The selection of companies takes place twice a year, effective from 1 January and 1 July.

The 15 largest companies in terms of market value are selected from the 20 companies most actively traded during the period of previous twelve months and those 15 companies are included in ICEX-15 for the next six months. Equity funds are secluded from the index. The period from 1 June 2000 to 31 May 2001 determines the choice of companies for the period from 1 July 2001 to 1 January 2002.

The companies included in ICEX-15 are therefore those that have the most active price formation on the Exchange but an inclusion in the index should not be perceived as a standard of quality. Further information on the composition of the index can be found at www.icex.is.

Three new companies have been selected at this time, one of which is selected
for the very first time. The newcomers are: Kaupthing Investment Bank (Finance and Insurance), Oliufelagid (Oil Distribution) and SIF (Fisheries). The three companies replaced are Grandi (Fisheries), Thormodur rammi-Saeberg (Fisheries) and Opin kerfi (IT).

At the moment, 49 companies are listed on the Main List, not including the equity funds. The 15 companies included in ICEX-15 account for 66.7 per cent of total market value of those companies. The turnover of the ICEX-15 companies was 76.4 per cent of total turnover on the Main List in the last twelve months.