Standard & Poor’s Monday announced the launch of the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Index Suite.

The new index suite includes the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals CAD Hedged Index, the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Diversified Banks Index and the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Oil & Gas Index.

“Equal-weighted indices provide additional options to investors,” says Jasmit Bhandal, director at Standard & Poor’s Canada. “Designed to meet investors need for benchmarking, investing and trading strategies that require a size-neutral index, the equal weight indices have weighting and rebalancing processes that lead to different return and risk profiles when compared with market capitalization weighted indices.”

The S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals CAD Hedged Index is the equal-weighted and Canadian Dollar hedged version of the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index, a benchmark of securities involved in the production or extraction of base metals, and a subset of the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index.

The S&P/TSX Equal Weight Diversified Banks Index is the equal-weighted version of the S&P/TSX Diversified Banks Index, a benchmark including commercial banks whose businesses are derived primarily from commercial lending and operations and also have significant activity in retails banking and small and medium corporate lending. Eligible securities for the index are members of the S&P/TSX Composite Index and classified under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) subindustry Diversified Banks.

The S&P/TSX Equal Weight Oil & Gas Index provides investors with a portfolio of securities involved in the oil and gas industry. Eligible securities are members of the S&P/TSX 60 and are classified under the following GICS subindustries: Oil & Gas Drilling, Oil & Gas Equipment & Services, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing, and Oil & Gas Storage and Transportation.

IE