Dow Jones & Company and First Finance Media Co. (FFMC) will launch a composite benchmark index, the Dow Jones First Finance China 600, in September, according to Shanghai-headquartered FFMC.

The new composite index will include indices of key listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The same standards for all DJ global indices will apply to the new index, whose compilation will be done in exactly the same way as the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index that tracks Europe's 600 largest listed companies.

By incorporating the largest listed firms in the Chinese market into one composite index, the Dow Jones First Finance China 600 will make a clear and transparent benchmark for market evaluation and will provide valuable information on the Chinese market, one of the most important markets in the world, said Lars Hamich, managing director of STOXX, a Dow Jones joint venture for business development in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The new China index will be published daily in the Wall Street Journal, the Asian Wall Street Journal, First Media's TV programs and First Media Daily, a newspaper to begin publication on October 18.

FFMC chairman Li Ruigang said the index would become part of the DJ global 1800/600 indices that track 1,800 listed companies in Europe, United States and the Asia Pacific region.

First Finance was founded in August 2003 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Shanghai Wenguang Media Group.

Dow Jones has been a publisher of international business and financial news and information since 1882. It publishes the Wall Street Journal and its spin-offs, Barron's and the Far Eastern Economic Review. It also maintains a number of stock indexes including the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Dow Jones Global Indexes.

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn July 27, 2004)