AFR moves into index products with three new benchmarks

The Australian Financial Review has launched AFR Indices, a set of independent financial benchmarks developed by Financial Review Ventures.

The AFR says the S&P/ASX 200 doesn’t give a full picture of the Australian economy, because its top 10 stocks, mainly the “Big Four” banks and BHP, make up nearly 49 per cent of the index. The three launch indices are intended to address that:

• The AFR Real Economy Index (ticker: AFRARE) has 500 constituents. It tracks ASX-listed companies, with sector weightings that closely mirror the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) composition of the economy, led by industrials, healthcare and infrastructure.
• The AFR Rich List Holdings Index (ticker: AFRRICH) is equal-weighted. It tracks ASX-listed companies that represent at least 20% of the estimated wealth of an individual on the AFR Rich List.
• The AFR Australian Global 50 Index (ticker: AAFRG50) covers 50 Australian companies that earn most of their revenue offshore.

READ MORE: Nine shuts down claims it’s being shopped to private equity

From today, the indices will appear on AFR.com, company market pages and the Market Wrap newsletter, with daily coverage and a fixed Page 2 column in the print edition of the Financial Review. They will also be promoted across Nine’s other media platforms.

A natural and powerful step forward for AFR

The Australian Financial Review’s Editor-in-Chief, Cosima Marriner, said the venture marks an exciting natural evolution for Australia’s most trusted business masthead.

“The AFR has been the definitive chronicler of Australian corporate life, capital markets, and national economic policy. Moving into proprietary market indices is a natural and powerful step forward.

“For too long, the primary measure of Australian corporate health has been skewed by an ASX 200 heavily concentrated around a handful of mining giants and major banks.

“The AFR Indices provide a far more nuanced, accurate, and insightful lens on the businesses shaping our actual economy, our most successful founder-led enterprises, and our global operators.

“We are taking the analytical authority that defines our newsroom and turning it into live, actionable market infrastructure for our readers and the wider financial community.”

The AFR developed the indices with BITA, a global provider of index technology and calculation services, and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Methodology documents and constituent profiles are available at bita.io.

Financial Review Ventures is part of the AFR and focuses on new growth areas including premium events, Lists, thought leadership and data products.