Bucharest Exchange Readies Index Expansion

The BET Total Return index (BET-TR), which will be launched in September, will be calculated using the methodology applied to BET─which tracks the exchange's 10 most liquid stocks─and will track the capital gains and the total return of its constituents. The second gauge, BET Plus index, will launch in June, replacing the BET-C index, and will track blue chip stocks also covered by BET, as well as the stocks performing below BET constituents in terms of liquidity.

The exchange will calculate the new indexes in real time after each trade, and make data available on its website, as well as to "almost all" data vendors, says BSE chief executive Ludwik Sobolewski. The indicators will be available at no additional cost as part of the index data packages of current data vendors and will be free for end users, Sobolewski says. The exchange won't offer any historical data, he adds.

In addition, the exchange says that with the index quarterly index adjustment of June 2014, it will calculate free float so as to exclude holdings in index constituents that are more than 30 percent owned by insurance companies, pension funds, mutual and investment funds. The change will be applied to BET, BET-XT, BET-NG and BET-BK, and will also be used in the new indexes.

Finally, the exchange says that starting in January 2015, index constituent companies will be required to report in English and to provide a minimum level of investor relations services, such as organizing phone conferences and investor meetings for quarterly earnings releases, and disclosing information on the exchange's website.