The RTS Index, one of Moscow Exchange’s two main stock market benchmarks, celebrates its 20th birthday on September 1.
Launched with a base level of 100 by RTS, a stock exchange which merged with the MICEX bourse in 2012 to form today’s Moscow Exchange, the RTS Index, which is a dollar-denominated gauge and today stands at 833.60, reached its peak of 2,487.92 on May 19, 2008, and sank to its lowest point of 38.53 on October 5, 1998.
However, its best year was 1999, when it rose by 197% in 12 months, Moscow Exchange said in a statement.
Since the merger of RTS and MICEX, Russia’s two main exchanges, the MICEX Index, which is ruble-denominated, and the RTS Index have been unified to include the same pool of securities under the same methodology.
“They both contain the 50 most liquid shares of Russia’s largest public companies,” Moscow Exchange said in its statement.
The RTS Index originally covered 13 companies: RAO UES, Irkutskenergo, Kamaz, Komineft, Lukoil, Mosenergo, Norilsk Nickel, Noyabrskneftegas, Purneftegas, Rostelecom, Surgutneftegas, Tomskneft and Yuganskneftegas.
The index had the greatest number of constituents in the first half of 1998, when it covered all 128 shares admitted to trading on the RTS exchange, the statement said.
According to the statement, RTS Index futures, launched in 2005, is the most popular index instrument traded on Moscow Exchange. The bourse describes it as its most liquid type of contract, ranked among the world’s top seven most actively traded derivatives contracts, according to the Futures Industry Association.
From 2006, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, RBS and Nomura have all designed derivatives, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and structured products based on the RTS Index.
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