Standard & Poor's Announces Completion of Global Benchmark Index

London (PROTEXT) - Standard & Poor's, the world's premier provider of index services, today unveiled the S&P Global 1200 Index, the world's most comprehensive, liquid stock index and the first to be calculated in real time. Like other S&P indices, including the well-known S&P 500 in the U.S., the S&P Global 1200 aims to provide investors with an investable portfolio benchmark. The new index, which covers 29 countries and consists of seven regional components, offers global investors an easily accessible, tradable set of stocks and particularly suits the new generation of index products, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs). "Given the globalization of performance measurement and index- based asset management, Standard & Poor's is committed to offering investors the broadest, most comprehensive, and most consistently maintained set of global market benchmarks," said Leo C. O'Neill, president of Standard & Poor's. "The S&P Global 1200 index recognizes the need for an integrated approach to equity markets today, and underscores Standard & Poor's commitment to a global approach in its information services business." The S&P Global 1200 will set a new standard for global benchmarks when real-time calculation starts October 25th. The Reuters ticker symbol for the new index will be .SPGLOBAL. Standard & Poor's expects that new investment products, including index futures, index funds, and exchange-traded funds, based on the S&P Global 1200 and its regional components will be launched. Futures on several S&P indices are listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. "We are proud of our 17-year relationship with Standard & Poor's, which has been a leader in making indices part of the equity investing landscape," said Scott Gordon, chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, commenting on the S&P Global 1200 index. "We expect that the new S&P Global 1200 will continue Standard & Poor's long history of successful index products." The seven regional components in the new S&P Global 1200 are anchored by the S&P 500, representing the U.S. market. The other six, regional sub-indices, all launched within the past year, consist of: Region Index Reuters Ticker Asia Pacific: S&P Asia Pacific 100 .SPASIA Canada: S&P/TSE 60 .SPTSE Europe: S&P Euro Plus (with 200 constituents) .SPEP Japan: S&P/TOPIX 150 .SPTPX Latin America: S&P Latin America 40 .SPLAC UK: S&P United Kingdom 150 .SPUK Two of the components of the Global 1200 were developed with the collaboration of major stock exchanges: the Tokyo Stock Exchange for Japan and the Toronto Stock Exchange for Canada. According to Yoshiaki Kaneko, senior managing director of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, "The S&P Global 1200 arrives at a time when investors are in need of a truly liquid global index on which many index products can be based. We are especially pleased to have collaborated on its development." Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, provides financial information, analysis, advice, and credit ratings globally. Its Index Services unit maintains a wide variety of investable portfolio indices, including the S&P 500 for the U.S., and constituent indices of the Global 1200 Index. For information, visit http://www.spglobal.com. Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading information services provider meeting worldwide needs in education, business, finance, the professions and government. The corporation employs 16,500 people located in more than 400 offices in 32 countries. Sales in 1998 were $3.7 billion. S&P United Kingdom 150 Constituents 3I GROUP ABBEY NATIONAL AEGIS GROUP AIRTOURS ALLIANCE & LEICEST ALLIED DOMECQ ORD GBP0.26 AMVESCAP ANGLIAN WATER ANGLO AMERICAN ARJO WIGGINS APPLE ARM HLDGS ARRIVA ASSOCD BRIT FOODS ASTRAZENECA AVIS EUROPE BAA BARCLAYS BASS BBA GROUP BERKELEY GROUP BG BILLITON BK OF SCOTLAND BLUE CIRCLE INDS BOC GROUP BODYCOTE INTL BOOTS CO BOWTHORPE BP AMOCO BPB BRIT AMER TOBACCO BRITISH AEROSPACE BRITISH AIRWAYS BRITISH ENERGY BRITISH LAND CO BRITISH SKY BROADC BRITISH STEEL BRITISH TELECOM BUNZL BURMAH CASTROL CABLE & WIRELESS CADBURY SCHWEPPES CAPITA GROUP CARLTON COMMUNCTNS CENTRICA CGU CMG COBHAM COMPASS GROUP COMPUTACENTER COOKSON GROUP DAILY MAIL&GEN TST 'A' DEBENHAMS DIAGEO DIXONS GROUP ELECTROCOMPONENTS EMAP EMI GROUP ENTERPRISE OIL FIRSTGROUP FKI GALLAHER GROUP GEN ELECTRIC CO GKN GLAXO WELLCOME GRANADA GROUP GREAT UNIV STORES HALIFAX GROUP HAMMERSON HANSON HAYS HILTON GROUP HSBC HLDGS IMI IMPERIAL CHEM INDS IMPERIAL TOBACCO INVENSYS JOHNSON MATTHEY KINGFISHER LAND SECURITIES LAPORTE LASMO LEGAL & GENERAL GP LLOYDS TSB GROUP LOGICA LONMIN MARKS & SPENCER MISYS MORRISON(W)SUPRMKT NATIONAL GRID GRP NATIONAL POWER NATL WESTMINSTER NEXT NORWICH UNION ORANGE P & O DFD GBP1 PEARSON PILKINGTON POWERGEN PROVIDENT FINL PRUDENTIAL CORP RACAL ELECTRONICS RAILTRACK GROUP RANK GROUP RECKITT & COLMAN REED INTERNATIONAL RENTOKIL INITIAL REUTERS GROUP RIO TINTO RMC GROUP ROLLS ROYCE ROYAL BK SCOT GRP ROYAL&SUN ALLIANCE SAFEWAY SAGE GROUP SAINSBURY(J) SCHRODERS SCOT & NEWCASTLE SCOT & SOUTHERN EN SCOT POWER SECURICOR SEMA GROUP SEVERN TRENT SHELL TRNSPT&TRDG SLOUGH ESTATES SMITH(WH)GROUP SMITHKLINE BEECHAM SMITHS INDUSTRIES SOUTH AFRICAN BREW STAGECOACH HLDGS STANDARD CHARTERED SUN LIFE & PROVINC TATE & LYLE TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS TESCO THAMES WATER THOMSON TRAVEL GP TI GROUP TOMKINS TRINITY MIRROR UNILEVER UTD NEWS & MEDIA UTD UTILITIES VODAFONE AIRTOUCH WHITBREAD WILLIAMS WOLSELEY WOOLWICH WPP GROUP ots Original Text Service: Standard & Poor's Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Leah C. Johnson, (USA) 212-438-2755, or Sean Lowry, (USA) 212-438-3531, or 011-44- 171-312-7000, both of S&P Web site: http://www.spglobal.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents.