The new series is designed to support enhanced strategies such as sector rotation and long/short sector plays enabling the creation of structured products, index funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs),

The FTSE Asian Sectors Index Series consists of 18 tradable indices, each sector index being derived from the individual subsectors of the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB), the global standard developed in partnership with FTSE Group and Dow Jones Indexes. The new series is based on constituents of FTSE Asia Pacific Index which covers the large and mid cap stocks from China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Jamie Perrett, head of quantitative research, Asia Pacific for FTSE Group, said: "We are seeing evidence of increased investor appetite for sectorial plays, against a background of high volatility in regional equities markets. We are pleased to provide a consistent and tradable performance benchmark across Asian sectors which can be used as a building block for sectorial asset allocation strategies."