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Products October 4, 2010
Russell Releases Frontier Market Indexes
Russell Investments has launched a new series of benchmarks to reflect the global frontier market.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
A Russell news release said the new Russell Frontier Index will initially include 683 stocks from 41 countries, none of which are represented in the Russell Emerging Markets Index or Russell Developed Index. Russell’s research of recent investment manager behavior suggested a need for a more robust set of niche indexes that offered exposure outside of the companies included in the Russell Global Index, the firm said.
Russell said the new methodology ensures weights are adequately distributed across countries in the index, allowing managers who invest in frontier markets to diversify their country risk.
Initially, the new family of indexes features the Russell Frontier Large Cap Index and Russell Frontier Small Cap Index as well as the Russell Frontier ex GCC Index (which does not include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar).