The indices may be licensed and used for portfolio management and benchmarking purposes, and as the basis of structured products and other index-linked investment vehicles such as exchange traded funds (ETFs).

"The MSCI Asia APEX Mid Cap 50 Index and MSCI Asia APEX Small Cap 200 Index are being launched in response to investor demand for additional market cap size segments to complement the MSCI Asia APEX 50 Index, launched just under a year ago," explained David Brierwood, Chief Operating Officer, MSCI Barra.

The MSCI Asia APEX Indices are designed to be tradable proxies for the various size segments of the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index, a benchmark widely followed by investors investing in Asia. The MSCI Asia APEX Index Methodology applies rules that optimize a selection universe, based on constituent securities of the underlying MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index, for tradability. The new indices share similar construction rules and methodology, but differ in the number of securities and buffer criteria. The MSCI Asia APEX Mid Cap 50 Index tracks the performance of the 50 largest and most tradable securities in the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Mid Cap Index while the MSCI Asia APEX Small Cap 200 Index tracks the performance of the 200 largest and most tradable securities in the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index.

The MSCI Asia APEX Mid Cap 50 Index and MSCI Asia APEX Small Cap 200 Index are available on request to eligible clients directly from MSCI Barra. The indices will be added to the MSCI Equity Index products in December 2008. For more information on the MSCI Asia APEX Mid Cap 50 Index and the MSCI Asia APEX Small Cap 200 Index, please visit our website.