PRESS RELEASE
Asia Index Private Limited launches S&P BSE Gold Hedged Indices
A gold hedged index designed to offset currency fluctuation risk
Mumbai, April 26, 2015 – Asia Index Private Limited, a joint venture between S&P Dow Jones Indices and BSE, today announced the launch of the S&P BSE SENSEX Gold Hedged Index and S&P BSE SENSEX Dynamic Gold Hedged Index. These indices can serve as the basis of investment products such as ETFs that allow investors to benefit from the returns of the Indian equity market while hedging against a decline in the value of the Indian rupee versus gold.
The S&P BSE SENSEX Gold Hedged Index and S&P BSE SENSEX Dynamic Gold Hedged Index are designed to simulate the total returns of S&P BSE SENSEX with a hedge against the fluctuations of the Indian Rupee against gold. The hedge only protects against adverse movements in the relative value of the Indian rupee, as expressed in the rupee price of gold. Stock market risk is not hedged in any way.
The S&P BSE SENSEX Gold Hedge is calculated as a combination of a long S&P BSE SENSEX total return position and Gold Mini futures contracts on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).
“As the Indian market is maturing, investors are seeking more innovative products that are designed to offer their own risk premia. Historically, gold and equities noted no correlation or very low correlation with each other. S&P BSE Gold Hedged indices are designed to provide gold exposure to the portfolio in a more capital efficient way,” said Alka Banerjee, CEO of Asia Index Private Limited
“We are excited to launch the S&P BSE Gold Hedge indices for our investors who are looking for more sophisticated products. This first-of-its-kind of index launched in India offers investors reaping a dual benefit of going long on Indian stock market bellwether, Sensex and hedging the fluctuation in Indian Rupee by taking position in Gold Mini futures contracts,” said Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, BSE Ltd.
The S&P BSE SENSEX Gold Hedged Index is rebalanced monthly, during the one-day roll of the gold futures contracts to equalize notional exposure to equity and gold. The S&P BSE SENSEX Dynamic Gold Hedged Index is rebalanced monthly during the five-day roll of the gold futures contracts to adjust the notional exposure of equity and gold.
The S&P BSE SENSEX Gold Hedged Index and S&P BSE SENSEX Dynamic Gold Hedged Index are part of the S&P BSE strategy indices family.
For more information, please visit: www.asiaindex.co.in
ASIA INDEX PRIVATE LIMITED
Asia Index Pvt. Ltd is a 50-50 partnership between S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, the world’s largest provider of financial market indices, and BSE Ltd, Asia’s oldest stock exchange and home to the iconic SENSEX index - a leading indicator of Indian equity market performance. Asia Index Pvt. Ltd, which combines the benchmarks, market intelligence, and insights of both parent companies, each established more than 115 years ago, aims to provide a full array of indices enabling global and domestic investors to participate in South Asia’s vibrant economies. The Company is best known for calculating, publishing, and maintaining a diverse family of Asian indices under the umbrella brand, S&P BSE Indices.
About BSE Ltd
BSE Ltd (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd.), established in 1875, is Asia’s first and fastest Stock Exchange with the response time of 200 microseconds and one of India’s leading exchange groups and has played a prominent role in developing the Indian capital market. BSE is a corporatized and demutualized entity, with a broad shareholder-base which includes two leading global exchanges, Deutsche Bourse and Singapore Exchange as strategic partners. BSE provides an efficient and transparent market for trading in equity, debt instruments, equity derivatives, currency derivatives, interest rate derivatives, mutual funds and stock lending and borrowing. BSE also has a dedicated platform for trading in equities of small-and-medium enterprises (SME). BSE provides a host of other services to capital market participants including risk management, clearing, settlement, market data services and education. It has a global reach with customers around the world and a nation-wide presence. BSE systems and processes are designed to safeguard market integrity, drive the growth of the Indian capital market and stimulate innovation and competition across all market segments.
About S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a part of McGraw Hill Financial, is the world’s largest, global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. Home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 1,000,000 indices covering a wide range of asset classes across the globe, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC defines the way investors measure and trade the markets. To learn more about our company, please visit www.spdji.com.
Standard & Poor’s and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of McGraw Hill Financial. Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”). These trademarks have been licensed to S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC.
It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Asia Index Pvt. Ltd (“AIPL”), S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, BSE, Dow Jones and their respective affiliates do not sponsor, endorse, sell, or promote any investment fund or product that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. This document does not constitute an offer of services in jurisdictions where AIPL, S&P Dow Jones Indices and/or BSE do not have the necessary licenses. AIPL receives compensation in connection with licensing its indices to third parties.
For more information:
BSE Ltd.
Marketing Communications
Yatin Padia – +91 022 22718516
yatin.padia@bseindia.com
S&P BSE Indices
Donna Moloney
Marketing
donna.moloney@spdji.com
Alex Yang
Communications Manager, Asia-Pacific
S&P Dow Jones Indices
alex.yang@spdji.com