The headline index is the S&P South Africa Composite that measures the performance of companies actively traded and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
It covers both foreign and domestic companies listed on the exchange with a market cap of $100m or more and that trades at $50m per year.
The other eight indices are the S&P South Africa:
- Dividend Aristocrats
- Low Volatility Index
- Composite Capped
- 50
- 50 Equal Weight
- Completion
- Composite Shariah
- Composite Shariah Capped
S&P Dow Jones Indices has licensed two of the indices – the Dividend Aristocrats and Low Volatility indices – to Grindrod Bank for potential ETF development. The bank intends to launch two new smart beta ETFS to its Gtrax suite of ETFs giving overseas investors access on the local exchange.
To distinguish between them, the S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats includes companies that designed have a policy of increasing or maintaining stable dividends for five consecutive years; the focus of the S&P Dividend Aristocrats maintains is dividend growth over pure dividend yield.
According to Vinit Srivastava, senior director at S&P Dow Jones Indices: “The launch of the S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats and the S&P South Africa Low Volatility Index represent the first time that investors here will be able to measure the performance of long-time dividend payers and low volatility issues.”
