STOXX Ltd To License Dow Jones EURO STOXX To BNP Paribas As Basis Of Exchange Traded Fund - New ETF Reflects Interest In Using Larger Benchmarks For Financial Products

STOXX Limited, the leading European index provider, today announced that it has licensed its Dow Jones EURO STOXX index to BNP Paribas as the underlying index for an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Dow Jones EURO STOXX index is the first broad Euro zone index that has been licensed as underlying for an ETF in France. The ETF that will be part of the EasyETF range managed by BNP Paribas and AXA Investment Managers will be launched on October 14, 2005 on Euronext.

“Licensing the broader Dow Jones EURO STOXX benchmark index to BNP Paribas complements the Dow Jones STOXX ETF family in France, which also includes ETFs based on the popular Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 and Dow Jones STOXX 50 blue-chip indexes and sector indexes. Investors will now be able to participate in the return of a broader benchmark index that measures the performance of the Euro zone comprising a larger number of components,” said Lars Hamich, managing director of STOXX Ltd.

The Dow Jones EURO STOXX Index is the regional sub-index derived from the Dow Jones STOXX 600 index for a broad and liquid representation of Euro zone companies. The Dow Jones EURO STOXX index contains currently the largest 316 components of the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index from the Euro zone ranked by free-float market capitalization. The index is subject to 20% weighting cap and has a base value of 100. History is available back to December 31, 1991. The Dow Jones EURO STOXX is reviewed quarterly in March, June, September and December. The components, weightings and daily closing values of the Dow Jones EURO STOXX index are available on www.stoxx.com.