HONG KONG, Oct. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices today announced the launch of the S&P Global Resources Select Equal Weighted Index which is designed to provide investors with broad, diversified exposure across a spectrum of commodities producers. Part of S&P Dow Jones Indices' thematic index family, the Index has been licensed to Bank of China Investment Management for the launch of a financial product in China.

The S&P Global Resources Select Equal Weighted Index is comprised of 100 of the largest publicly traded commodities and natural resources companies in five key markets: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, UK and US. This Index is structured around three clusters, based on the GICS^® classification:

• Agriculture, with 30 constituents
• Energy, with 25 oil and gas constituents and five coal constituents
• Metals and Mining, with 20 industrial metals constituents and 20 precious metals constituents

Vinit Srivastava, director of strategy indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices commented: "The S&P Global Resources Select Equal Weighted Index provides an alternative entry to commodity markets versus traditional futures-based financial products. Another interesting characteristic of this Index is the equal-weighting, which gives a slight bias to smaller-cap companies within the Index."

To be eligible for inclusion in the S&P Global Resources Select Equal Weighted Index, constituents from the S&P Global BMI must have a total market capitalization above USD $1 billion and a three-month average daily trading value above USD $5 million as of each annual rebalancing. And constituents also must be traded on one of these stock exchanges: ASX (Australia), TSX (Canada), HKSE (Hong Kong), LSE (UK) or NYSE (US).

The Index is rebalanced annually. The constituents are reweighted quarterly in February, May and November.

For more information, please visit: www.spdji.com.

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SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices