OREANDA-NEWS. On October 03, 2007 Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, announced the inclusion of Kazakhstan to its S&P/IFCG Frontier Index effective from December 1, 2007, reported the press-centre of KASE.

The S&P/IFCG Frontier Index, part of the S&P Emerging Markets index family, is the only index of its kind to track equity markets in the so-called 'frontier' markets. Frontier markets are defined as those that are small, illiquid, or are just starting to attract worldwide investor interest.

The growth of the Kazakh equity markets over the past years has been impressive. As of July 31, 2007, 67 companies were listed on the exchange with a combined market capitalization close to $70 billion. This capitalization exceeds that of traditional emerging markets such as Czech Republic and Hungary that have long attracted attention from international investors.

Amongst the 23 markets that are part of the S&P/IFCG Frontier Index, Kazakhstan ranks second only to Ukraine in terms of total market size. Fourteen of the companies currently listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange had a market cap greater than $1 billion.

The Kazakh market also boasts relatively high liquidity. By the measure of yearly value traded, Kazakhstan again ranks second only to Vietnam within the S&P/IFCG Frontier Index. Again, the value traded exceeds that of more traditional emerging markets such as Argentina and Peru.

In addition to its inclusion into the S&P/IFCG Frontier Index, Kazakhstan is represented in other index products offered by Standard & Poor's. Four Kazakh companies are included in the S&P/IFCG Extended Frontier 150 Index, the first fully investable index covering frontier markets.

"The inclusion of Kazakhstan into the S&P/IFCG Frontier Indices reflects the growing importance that Kazakh companies play in a broad, well-diversified global portfolio," says Taber Johnson, Director of Index Emerging Markets at Standard & Poor's. "Kazakhstan will immediately occupy a prominent position amongst other frontier markets due to its growing market capitalization and relatively high liquidity. It is expected that this new exposure within the Standard & Poor's indices will only serve to cement the interest of foreign investors in an important, new market."