Zee Beam News

NEW YORK, April 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s finance minister has unveiled a new tool for gauging Western investor confidence in the Russian economy during a visit to the New York Stock Exchange. Alexei Kudrin said Monday that the Russian Industrial Leaders Index (RUXX), calculated by Dow Jones & Company for all Russian companies listed overseas, would serve as an additional guarantee of their financial transparency. “A very good new tool has been created on the New York Stock Exchange, which tracks the development of Russian business,” Kudrin told a NYSE news briefing. “The Russian stock market has posted strong growth in the past year. This goes to show that Russia has received a good mark from the [world] business [community] and that investment in Russian corporate shares has become very profitable.” The minister said he was confident that the Russian share market would continue to grow. Kudrin said he was certain that the RUXX index would draw more attention to investment in the Russian stock market, all the more so since starting in January 1, 2007, “Russia will lift all restrictions on the circulation of capital and the ruble will become a convertible currency.” RUXX has been calculated in U.S. dollars since January 1, 2006, and has been available for all global trading systems since February 1 this year. It had an initial base of 500 points and rose by 30% in the first quarter. It is a composite economic index of Russian companies with financial instruments (shares and depository receipts) placed on major world trading floors, including the New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and AMEX. The index includes 17 Russian companies listed abroad: Tatneft (NYSE, LSE), MTS (NYSE), Rostelecom (NYSE, LSE), VimpelCom (NYSE), Wimm-Bill-Dann (NYSE), Mechel (NYSE), Gazprom (LSE), LUKoil (LSE), Novatek (LSE), AFK Sistema (LSE), Golden Telecom (Nasdaq), Rambler Media Group (LSE), Norilsk Nickel (LSE, Nasdaq), Mosenergo (LSE, NYSE), Novolipetsk Steel (LSE), Unified Energy System (LSE, NYSE), and Surgutneftegas (LSE). RUXX was launched by Press Release Group, a New York-based communications company, and RIA Novosti. It is calculated and disseminated by Dow Jones & Company. The index is based on companies' weight depending on their market capitalization. The higher the market capitalization, the larger the company's share in the index, with a weight cap of 20% for each company. Market capitalization and share weights in the index are changed quarterly. The index is published daily at 05.55 p.m. EST by the Dow Jones ITC 2.1 data feed system and the Chicago Board of Trade.