NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices has announced that BM&FBOVESPA (BVMF) has today launched U.S. dollar denominated S&P 500® Index futures settled in Brazilian real, making it the first derivative of a U.S. stock index to trade on the Brazilian Exchange. The S&P 500 is being made available to BVMF via a sublicense from CME Group and S&P Dow Jones Indices, the world's largest provider of financial market indices.

"The licensing of the S&P 500 to BM&FBOVESPA and the CME Group is a prime example of S&P Dow Jones Indices' growing commitment to South American investors," says Alex Matturri, Chief Executive Officer of S&P Dow Jones Indices. "S&P Dow Jones Indices understands the growing importance of South America as an influential, financial market and will continue to explore new, innovative ways of bringing our world-class indices to its investment community."

The launch of the new S&P 500 futures contract is part of a landmark agreement announced in March, by the CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, and BVMF, the largest equity and futures exchange in Latin America, for the cross-listing and cross-licensing of S&P 500 Index and Bovespa Index (IBOVESPA) futures.

"In the past two decades, the financial markets of South America have shown tremendous strides in both their development and growth," says Antonio De Azpiazu, Senior Manager, South America at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "We are very excited about bringing this and other future opportunities to South American investors as we expand our offerings and initiatives throughout the region."

The S&P 500 is widely considered the premier gauge of the overall health of the U.S. equity market and the leading gauge of large-cap equity performance in the U.S. Over $5.5 trillion is benchmarked to the S&P 500 with index assets comprising approximately $1.3 trillion of this total. The Index includes 500 leading companies and captures approximately 80% coverage of available market capitalization.

To learn more about S&P Dow Jones Indices, please visit: www.spdji.com.

About S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is the world's largest, global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. Home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average^SM, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of institutional and retail investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 830,000 indices covering a wide range of assets classes across the globe, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC defines the way investors measure and trade the markets. To learn more about our company, please visit www.spdji.com.

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SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices