NZSE’s new indices

Press, 3 February 1987, Page 21

NZSE’s new indices

PA Wellington The New Zealand Stock Exchange yesterday launched its new share price indices — the NZSE indices.

The figures showed a decline in the over-all level of prices from the close of the market on Friday. At the close of trading yesterday afternoon, the NZSE capital index stood at 1173.94 — down 30.60 points on Friday’s close. The NZSE gross index stood at 1195.32 — down 31.36 points. After the morning call, the capital index was fixed at 1195.55 and the gross index at 1217.32, the NZSE said in a statement.

The indices were based on a value of 1000 at July 1, 1986.

The NZSE capital index and the NZSE Gross Index covered the whole market, and measured movements in the prices of all listed ordinary shares and other securities convertible to ordinary shares.

The capital index allowed for the effect of dividend payments on capitalisation and reflected the fall when shares become ex-dividend, while the gross index excluded the effect of dividends and was unaffected when shares moved from cum-divi-dend to ex-dividend.

The exchange had also developed — and would launch later 24 sectoral indices: Agriculture and associated, services, automotive, building, chemical and fertiliser, construction, energy and fuel, engineering, finance and banks, food,' forestry and forest products, insurance, investment, liquor and tobacco, meat and by-product, media and communications, medical supplies, miscellaneous services, property, retail merchants, rubber and plastics, textile and apparel, transport and tourism.

The NZSE indices had been developed by the Stock Exchange’s automation project team, based in Wellington, together with a securities industry committee. The exchange said it would publish the NZSE Indices twice a day — after the morning and afternoon calls. Later developments will include the publication of other world stock exchange indices conforming to standards set down by the Federation Internationale des Bourses de Valeurs.

The NZSE indices were part of a range of products which would become progressively available from the exchange through its computerised information services over the next few months.