In its first alliance with a leading European equity exchange, Standard & Poor’s is to launch a new Italian index in April. Borsa Italiana and S&P say the new index will become a headline index for the Italian market. The S&P/MIB 45 is designed to provide a broader and more accurate representation of the entire equities market than the MIB 30. It will cover about 80% of Italy’s market capitalisation.
It will have a sectoral balance that better reflects the Italian market, the organisations say. Each constituent will be weighted using an equity-free-float adjustment that reflects its overall importance in Italy’s equity market. In due course, the index will probably form the basis of new traded index contracts, the partners say.
“This is a great step forward for Italian equities,” says Massimo Capuano, CEO of Borsa Italiana. Over the next few months, S&P is expected to become Borsa Italiana’s primary index provider for all equity indices.