JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices announced today the launch of nine (9) new indices covering the South African equity market, headlined by the launch of the S&P South Africa Composite – an index which measures the performance of companies actively traded and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

The S&P South Africa Composite, which covers both foreign domiciled and domestic domiciled companies listed on the JSE with float-adjusted market values of US$ 100 million or more and annual dollar value traded of at least US$ 50 million, serves as the basis for the following eight (8) S&P branded indices covering South Africa and launched today:

• S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats
• S&P South Africa Low Volatility Index
• S&P South Africa Composite Capped
• S&P South Africa 50
• S&P South Africa 50 Equal Weight
• S&P South Africa Completion
• S&P South Africa Composite Shariah
• S&P South Africa Composite Shariah Capped

S&P Dow Jones Indices has licensed the S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats and the S&P South Africa Low Volatility Index to Grindrod Bank, a registered Financial Services and Credit Provider in South Africa, for potential ETF development. 

"S&P Dow Jones Indices is very excited to launch the S&P South Africa Composite and this new series of indices, bringing greater index based measurement and transparency to the South African market and its investors," says Vinit Srivastava, Senior Director at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "In addition, the launch of the S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats and the S&P South Africa Low Volatility Index represent the first time that investors here will be able to measure the performance of long-time dividend payers and low volatility issues."

"Grindrod Bank intends to add two new 'Smart Beta' ETFs to its Gtrax suite of ETFs, both of which will be aligned to both the low volatility and dividend aristocrat themes," says Gareth Stobie, head of Capital Markets at Grindrod Bank. "These themes have proven to be enormously popular with investors abroad. We are excited to provide South African investors with access to these strategies on the local exchange through Grindrod Bank."

Brief descriptions of the S&P South Africa Composite, S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats, and S&P South Africa Low Volatility Index can be found at the conclusion of this release. Additional information on all indices launched today by S&P Dow Jones Indices can be found by accessing: www.spdji.com.

The S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats is designed to measure the performance of constituents within the S&P South Africa Domestic index that have followed a policy of increasing or maintaining stable dividends for five consecutive years. Part of the S&P Dividend Aristocrats series of indices, the S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats maintains a focus on dividend growth over pure dividend yield.

The S&P South Africa Low Volatility Index is an extension of S&P Dow Jones Indices' closely followed low volatility family. The S&P South Africa Low Volatility Index measures the performance of the 40 least volatile stocks from the newly created S&P South Africa Composite. The hallmark of the S&P Low Volatility Index family is the simplicity in design, as its methodology employs a volatility-driven weighting scheme that weights constituents relative to the inverse of their realized volatility, with the least volatile stocks receiving the highest weights.

The S&P South Africa Composite covers equities listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with float-adjusted market values of US$ 100 million or more and annual dollar value traded of at least US$ 50 million and is the basis for numerous sub-indices which are broken down by different factors including size, Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®), and Shariah compliance.

About S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a part of McGraw Hill Financial, 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^TM, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 1,000,000 indices covering a wide range of asset 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