Standard & Poor's Announces Completion of Global Benchmark Index

London (PROTEXT) - Standard & Poor's, the world's premierprovider of index services, today unveiled the S&P Global 1200Index, the world's most comprehensive, liquid stock index and thefirst to be calculated in real time. Like other S&P indices, including the well-known S&P 500 inthe U.S., the S&P Global 1200 aims to provide investors with aninvestable portfolio benchmark. The new index, which covers 29countries and consists of seven regional components, offersglobal investors an easily accessible, tradable set of stocks andparticularly suits the new generation of index products, such asexchange-traded funds (ETFs). "Given the globalization of performance measurement and index-based asset management, Standard & Poor's is committed tooffering investors the broadest, most comprehensive, and mostconsistently maintained set of global market benchmarks," saidLeo C. O'Neill, president of Standard & Poor's. "The S&P Global1200 index recognizes the need for an integrated approach toequity markets today, and underscores Standard & Poor'scommitment to a global approach in its information servicesbusiness." The S&P Global 1200 will set a new standard for globalbenchmarks when real-time calculation starts October 25th. TheReuters 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 belaunched. Futures on several S&P indices are listed on theChicago Mercantile Exchange. "We are proud of our 17-year relationship with Standard &Poor's, which has been a leader in making indices part of theequity investing landscape," said Scott Gordon, chairman of theChicago Mercantile Exchange, commenting on the S&P Global 1200index. "We expect that the new S&P Global 1200 will continueStandard & Poor's long history of successful index products." The seven regional components in the new S&P Global 1200 areanchored by the S&P 500, representing the U.S. market. The othersix, regional sub-indices, all launched within the past year,consist of: Region

Index

ReutersTicker 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 withthe collaboration of major stock exchanges: the Tokyo StockExchange for Japan and the Toronto Stock Exchange for Canada. According to Yoshiaki Kaneko, senior managing director of theTokyo Stock Exchange, "The S&P Global 1200 arrives at a time wheninvestors are in need of a truly liquid global index on whichmany index products can be based. We are especially pleased tohave collaborated on its development." Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies,provides financial information, analysis, advice, and creditratings globally. Its Index Services unit maintains a widevariety of investable portfolio indices, including the S&P 500for 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 servicesprovider meeting worldwide needs in education, business, finance,the professions and government. The corporation employs 16,500people located in more than 400 offices in 32 countries. Sales in1998 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'sInternet: 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

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