GLOBAL - Global investment service provider Wilshire Associates together with global index provider Dow Jones Indexes has launched a new world equity markets index family, the firm has announced.

The monthly updated Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index Family seeks to measure all stocks with readily available prices in the world's markets.

It is anchored by the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Total Market Index, which tracks more than 12.000 stocks in 56 countries with a so-called float-adjusted market capitalisation of nearly $34trn(€27trn).

According to the two firms, the new index family represents the broadest possible ‘opportunity set' of equities from which individual stocks can be selected for portfolios.

Dubbed as an "ideal tool" for asset managers and institutional investors in benchmarking the international exposure in their portfolios, the index family also provides precise performance-measurement tools, enabling institutional consultants and financial advisors to offer more targeted information to their client.

The launch was deemed necessary because "with the ever widening search for performance and diversification, the investment community required a new broader measure of the world's markets," according to Wilshire chairman and chief executive officer Dennis Tito.

Indexes in the in the new index family include the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Size Indexes, measuring large and small stocks; Dow Jones Wilshire Global Industry Indexes, based on the Industry Classification Benchmark; and, Dow Jones Wilshire Global Regional Country Indexes.

"This suite of indexes offers plan sponsors, trustees, asset managers and individual investors the best available gauges for consistent benchmarking of their investment sin domestic, international and emerging markets," said Michael Petronella, president of Dow Jones Indexes.

Wilshire said that further indexes in the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index Family are planned for next year.

In support of the new indexes, it was announced that a series of forums will be held to discuss indexing in a global economy, starting with a panel discussion at the United Nation on October 25.