Data vendor and information services provider Thomson Reuters has introduced 500 new equity indices aimed at the Middle East markets, including indices from the equity markets of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE.
The additions are available on Thomson Reuters Eikon, the company's recently launched desktop for financial market professionals.
New regional indices have also been created consisting of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Morocco and Egypt; Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and UAE; and Organisation of the Islamic Conference, which includes the MENA countries and other Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey.
The new indices are intended to allow clients to monitor market movements more deeply by country or region. Covering 51 countries and 24 regions, the indices allow clients to monitor global markets and benchmark specific countries, regions and sectors.
Each index is created using a proprietary liquidity filter that selects stocks based on price, as opposed to volume. By only including stocks that investors can access, the indices aim to provide a more accurate depiction of the investing opportunities available, especially in emerging markets, where many securities are not accessible to all investors.
All 9,000 Thomson Reuters Indices are accessible via desktops as well as data feeds in the firm's Thomson Reuters Eikon, Thomson Reuters 3000 Xtra, Thomson Reuters Datastream, StarMine and Thomson Reuters Portfolio Analytics offerings.
“The addition of the 500 Middle East Indices will give investment managers, quantitative analysts and other financial professionals from across the globe, access to these important emerging markets and an opportunity to analyse market movements at a deeper level,” said Basil Moftah, global head of rapidly developing economies, Thomson Reuters.
The firm also recently launched a new Elektron feed to deliver low-latency access to Japanese equities and derivatives markets, in January 2011.