By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow
The RTS Stock Exchange will start calculating the RTS Index on a different basis from November 2 by taking into account stock prices revealed by the bourse’s RTS Standard market.
Since the launch of RTS Standard, a new cash equities market, in April 2009, market participants have demonstrating constantly increasing activity on this segment of the exchange.
As of November 2, prices for 17 stocks trading on RTS Standard, will be employed in calculation of the RTS Index while prices for the remaining 33 stocks will still come from RTS Classica where they are trading in US dollars.
The ruble denominated RTS Standard stock prices will be converted into dollars at the real time USD/RUB quotes with settlement on T+1 as under the new methodology.
The new methodology extends Index calculation so that it will cover both the daily and the evening trading, thus allowing investors to assess the Russian stock market trends during the evening trading session and effectively trade in futures from 7:00 pm to 11:50 pm MSK.
Roman Goryunov, chief executive of the RTS, said the Standard product had demonstrated high liquidity and the decision to included it in the main index is only natural.
He said: “The RTS Index will be calculated not only during the main trading session but also during the evening trading session that is open until 11:50 pm MSK enabling the RTS Index to track the reaction of Russian investors to the changing global financial market trends.”
The RTS Index is a key benchmark of the Russian stock market was first calculated on September 1, 1995 when its initial value was set at 100 points.
Today’s market had slipped by 2.3% to 1336 by 3.35pm Moscow time.
