The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) has launched a new central and eastern European (CEE) stock index comprising companies that have shares listed on its regulated market or alternative trading system.
The WIG-CEE is the third WSE index based on companies’ country of origin and includes firms listed on the bourse from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
The new product is a total return index and includes dividend and subscription rights income. Companies are eligible for inclusion provided that at least two companies from the same country from different sectors are listed on one of the WSE markets.
The top three companies in the index – Ukraine’s Kernel, Czech Republic’s CEZ and Hungary’s MOL – account for over 75% of the index’s weighting.
“It was our intention to create an index representative of the economies of the entire region of central and eastern Europe; we believe that this criterion can interest institutional investors,” said WSE CEO Ludwik Sobolewski “One of the main reasons to create this index was to demonstrate that foreign companies listed on the trading floor in Warsaw get added value through greater exposure to investors active on the largest, most liquid and most diverse market in this part of Europe.”
The WSE’s regional rival, the Vienna Stock Exchange-led Central and Eastern European Stock Exchange Group, which also includes stock exchanges in Budapest, Ljubjana and Prague, offers 10 CEE-based indices. These include sector-based, top-dividend indices denominated in euros and US dollars.