The current TSE 300 Composite Index uses a classification system that divides stocks into 14 groups and is unique to the Canadian marketplace. GICS - developed by Standard & Poor's and Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) - was created in response to the global financial community's need for a single and consistent set of industry definitions. GICS has rapidly gained worldwide acceptance and its use in the S&P/TSE Composite will allow investors to accurately compare the performance of Canadian indices with those around the world.
Glenn Doody, Director of Canadian Index Services for Standard & Poor's, said, "We have looked at the GICS breakdowns into Sectors, Industry Groups, Industries and Sub-Industries to help us build indices that define the diverse nature of the Canadian economy." He added, "Because the GICS system is designed to be global in nature, it will allow investors to compare Canadian sectors and industries with those in other markets around the world."
The nine real-time GICS indices, in combination with the currently available four GICS Indices, will be available through selected market data vendors. These indices are based on a subset of the companies included in the TSE 300 Composite Index, and are capped at a maximum weight of 25% for any one company.
Day-end GICS sector and industry indices will be available through the Toronto Stock Exchange's Market Data Services department, at 416-947-4452. These indices will include every company in the TSE 300 Composite Index, which will soon be renamed the S&P/TSE Composite Index. Companies in these indices will not be capped, but rather will be represented by their full market weight.
Historical Data for both the day-end and real-time indices will be available from the Toronto Stock Exchange's Market Data Services starting on April 10th, 2002. Historical data, both price level indices and total return indices will be calculated daily back to December 31st, 1997 for the real-time indices, and December 31st, 1987 for the day-end sectors and industries.
Four real-time GICS Indices were launched in September 2000 and currently have Exchange Traded Funds provided by Barclays Global Investors through their I-Unit ETF brand. Unchanged by the addition of the new GICS indices, these four indices are:
- Information Technology
- Energy
- Financials
- Gold
- Consumer Discretionary
- Consumer Staples
- Health Care
- Industrials
- Materials
- Telecommunication Services
- Utilities
- Metals and Mining
- Real Estate
The S&P 500 Index is widely regarded as the standard for measuring large-cap U.S. stock market performance. Its Canadian counterpart, the S&P/TSE 60 Index, consists of the actively traded, liquid shares of 60 large-cap companies representing all 10 economic sectors within the S&P/MSCI Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). Constituent companies are chosen from a universe of publicly traded Canadian companies, covering approximately 70% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization of the broader Canadian market. It also represents the Canadian portion of the S&P Global 1200, which is made up of six regional indices, including the S&P 500 in the United States and the S&P Europe 350. S&P indices have traded products on six continents.
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP: NYSE), is a leading global provider of financial information and investment analysis. Included among its product lines are corporate financial information, corporate valuations and value analysis, analytical services, and credit ratings on more than 220,000 securities and funds worldwide. With more than 5,000 employees located in 18 countries, Standard & Poor's is an integral part of the world's financial architecture. Additional information is available at www.standardandpoors.com .
The Toronto Stock Exchange Inc.
The TSE group of companies includes The Toronto Stock Exchange Inc., Canadian Venture Exchange Inc., and TSE CDNX Markets Inc., which collectively manage all aspects of Canada's senior and junior capital markets. The TSE is headquartered in Toronto and maintains offices in Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.
