TSX runs gold index up flagpole (May 29, 2006)

Details are sketchy, but the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and rating and index agency Standard & Poor’s will develop a Global Gold Index to track the share prices of leading gold mining companies.

In its announcement, Standard & Poor’s spoke of creating “a leading global benchmark for gold portfolios,” that would provide a basis for fund houses to develop investments linked to the index. Standard & Poor’s is scheduled to release more details and a list of stocks it plans to include in the index before the end of the year.

Standard & Poor’s and the Exchange already have a co-operative arrangement under which S&P tracks and manages the TSX and TSX Venture composite and industry-sector indexes. The existing TSX Gold Index, consisting only of gold stocks listed on the Exchange, is the basis for an exchange-traded fund managed by Barclays Global Investors, part of its iShares stable.