MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Stock Exchange launched Monday two new indices: one that captures the performance of mid-sized companies and another which tracks firms that consistently reward investors with high-yielding dividends.
At the start of weekly trading, the operator of the local bourse introduced the “MidCap” and “Dividend Yield” indices, which PSE President Ramon Monzon said “are long overdue.”
Before, the PSE only had the 30-member PSEi, the broader All Shares index and the sectoral counters.
“In developing these indices, we consulted with market participants to ensure that the selection criteria and methodology are acceptable to those who want to track or benchmark on the new indices,” Monzon said in a statement.
So far, both the MidCap and Dividend Yield indices have 20 members each, which were selected following a review of listed companies from January to December last year.
The base date and base level for both indices is Dec. 30, 2010 at 1,000. At the launch, the MidCap and Dividend Yield indices will have 1,195.10 and 1,708.56 as their starting levels, respectively.
Those starting levels represent an increase of 19.5% for the MidCap index and 70.9% for Dividend Yield index from their base levels. From there, the subsequent levels will be computed at the end of every trading day similar to the existing indices.
On Monday, the MidCap index ended the trading session up 0.13% while the Dividend Yield index gained 0.60%.
To be a member of MidCap index, a company must be listed for at least a year during the review period and must have a free float of at least 15% of its outstanding shares at the end of the 12-month period. Market capitalization, liquidity and financial performance are the other criteria considered.
The companies that are included in the MidCap index are:
- AREIT, Inc. (AREIT)
- Bloomberry Resorts Corp. (BLOOM)
- Cebu Air Inc. (CEB)
- Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF)
- Cosco Capital Inc. (COSCO)
- DoubleDragon Corp. (DD)
- DMCI Holdings Inc. (DMC)
- D&L Industries Inc. (DNL)
- Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI)
- GMA Network Inc. (GMA7)
- AllHome Corp. (HOME)
- Manila Water Co. Inc. (MWC)
- Nickel Asia Corp. (NIKL)
- Petron Corp. (PCOR)
- Philippine National Bank (PNB)
- Philex Mining Cor. (PX)
- Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI)
- Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SCC)
- Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (SHLPH)
- Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. (VLL)
Meanwhile, companies should have regularly issued cash dividends for the past three consecutive years to qualify for the Dividend Yield index.
Members must also be listed for at least 12 months during the review period and at least six months for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). The free float, liquidity and financial performance of companies are also evaluated.
The Dividend Yield index is composed of the following companies:
- Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV)
- Aboitiz Power Corp. (AP)
- AREIT Inc. (AREIT)
- Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
- DMCI Holdings Inc. (DMC)
- D&L Industries Inc. (DNL)
- Globe Telecom Inc. (GLO)
- GMA Network Inc. (GMA7)
- International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICT)
- LT Group Inc. (LTG)
- Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (MBT)
- Manila Electric Co. (MER)
- Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPI)
- Nickel Asia Corp. (NIKL)
- Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC)
- Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI)
- Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SCC)
- Security Bank Corp. (SECB)
- PLDT Inc. (TEL)
- Universal Robina Corp. (URC)
“The PSE Dividend Yield index will create a proper benchmark for existing dividend-based mutual funds and UITFs. Currently, the performance of these funds are compared with the PSEi because the stock market does not have a dividend index to match it to,” Monzon explained.
“With the launch of these two indices, we hope to see more funds created that will track these new benchmarks. We think this will also provide fund managers and investors the opportunity to diversify their portfolio,” he added.