Dow Jones Launches The Asia Dow

The new index will operate according to the same guiding principles as the DJIA, measuring the Asia equity markets by tracking 30 leading blue-chip companies in the region.

The Asia Dow is maintained by an Averages Committee that is responsible for adding and deleting stocks to the indexes.

Component stocks for the new indexes must be publicly traded equity securities from Asia/Pacific (The Asia Dow) markets that are open to foreign investment. While stock selection is not governed by quantitative rules, a stock typically is added only if the company has an excellent reputation, demonstrates sustained growth, and is of interest to a large number of investors. Maintaining adequate sector representation within the index is also a consideration in the selection process.

Stocks in The Asia Dow are weighted equally, unlike the DJIA, which uses a price-weighted methodology. Stocks in the new regional index are expected to be rebalanced to equal weight each September. The Asia Dow is calculated in USD.

The 30 components of The Asia Dow are: Westpac Banking Corp.; BH Billiton Ltd.; Commonwealth Bank of Australia; Woolworths Ltd.; China Mobile Ltd.; PetroChina Co. Ltd.; China Life Insurance Co. Ltd.; Industrial & Comm Bank of China Ltd.: Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd.; CLP Holdings Ltd.; HSBC Holdings PLC (HK Reg); Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.; Reliance Industries Ltd.; Larsen & Toubro Ltd.; Astra International; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.; Mitsubishi Corp.; Nippon Steel Corp.; Steven & I Holdings Co. Ltd.; Sony Corp.; Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.; Toyota Motor Corp.; CIMB Group Holdings Bhd; Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd.; Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.; POSCO; Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.; Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd.; Na Ya Plastics Corp.; and Taiwan Semi Manufacturing Co Ltd.