MSCI Barra Launches Equity Indices For The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries - Leading Provider Of International Benchmarks Creates 17 New Indices To Help Investors Evaluate Investment Opportunities In The Gulf region.

MSCI Barra, a leading provider of benchmark indices and risk management analytics products, announced today the launch of 17 new equity indices for countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). These countries are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Two index series have been created, one reflecting the investment restrictions applied to a GCC-based investor and the other reflecting the restrictions applied to a domestic investor.

Due to the investment restrictions currently in place in each of these countries, MSCI Barra does not plan to add any of these countries to the MSCI Emerging Markets IndexSM. Saudi Arabia is completely closed to international investors, and the other five countries are only partially open to international investors.

Khalid Ghayur, Managing Director and Global Head of Research at MSCI Barra said, “The region’s capital markets have become quite sizeable – we estimate the full market capitalization of these equity markets to be around USD 1 trillion, based on November 30, 2005 data. We have consulted with multiple market participants, in the region and globally, and, as a result of their feedback, we are now pleased to be launching representative indices for the GCC region that can serve both as benchmarks and as the basis for financial products.”

As the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman currently apply identical investment restrictions to GCC-based investors as they do to international investors, the MSCI GCC Countries ex Saudi Arabia IndexSM can be used as a proxy for the region by international investors.

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