Bangkok--25 Jan--SET The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) will launch the FTSE SET Index Series (FTSE SET) in mid-2008, providing investors with an internationally-accepted market index. On January 24, SET conducted a workshop to educate institutional investors about asset allocation strategies using indices. FTSE SET Index Series is the result of a collaboration between SET and FTSE International, SET Senior Vice President Dr. Santi Kiranand said. “This initiative delivers another underlying index for new financial products and so contributes to financial instrument variety and the market’s general attraction. Products, including exchange-traded funds, derivatives instruments and other funds, can use the FTSE SET Index as their underlying benchmark. Because the index is calculated from a group of specific securities, this will, in turn, increase liquidity for the underlying securities as well. “SET is in the process of managing the information display, education and marketing, to ensure that people understand the new index, realize its importance and use it in managing their portfolios,” Dr. Santi added. FTSE SET is comprised of six indices. There will be one tradable index—FTSE SET Large Cap—and five benchmark indices—FTSE SET Mid-Cap, FTSE SET Small Cap, FTSE SET All Shares, FTSE SET Mid/Small Cap and FTSE SET Fledgling. Securities in FTSE SET will be classified using the industrial classification benchmark (ICB) standard. They must also meet liquidity and free-float screening criteria. “Furthermore, FTSE methodology will use free-float to adjust market cap of each security in order to get the investible market cap that investors can really invest,” Dr. Santi noted. SET and FTSE will set up a joint advisory committee of capital market experts to recommend index improvements and ensure that calculations are accurate and realistic. The committee will review index constituents each June and December. On January 24, SET and FTSE co-hosted the workshop, Developing Asset Allocation Strategies Using Indices targeting securities firms, asset management companies and institutional investors in Thailand. The seminar considered global trends in asset allocation using indices and involved panelists from Sterling Finance, Watson Wyatt, Barclays Global Investors and Thailand’s major institutional investor— the Government Pension Fund. For more information about FTSE SET or SET indices, please visit www.set.or.th and click on Products and Services.