As it was announced on October 25, 2002, the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) is cooperating further with FTSE Group, the global index provider, to create a new benchmark index covering the Greek market, the FTSE / ASE 140 Index.

FTSE / ASE 140 index, which will be launched on January 2, 2003, with index base of 2,000 units, will comprise the 140 stocks of the existing FTSE / ASE 20 (blue chips), FTSE / ASE Midcap 40 (medium capitalization) and FTSE / ASE Smallcap 80 (small capitalization) indices. The new index will be calculated every trading day in real time, and will be reviewed twice a year in April and October, according to the established FTSE Ground Rules.

The new Index will cover a very high percentage of the market capitalization of the Athens Exchange. Each share of FTSE / ASE 140 Index will participate according to its weight depending on the free float, as it is the case with other FTSE / ASE Indices.

The FTSE / ASE 140 index will represent a benchmark of ATHEX performance and will provide a high correlation between the Greek Index and other foreign Indices. As Peter de Graaf, Managing Director of FTSE Europe has mentioned: The addition of the FTSE / ASE 140 to the FTSE/ASE series means that overseas and domestic investors can now estimate the performance of the majority of the Greek market, using a recognized global benchmark. According to Dr. Panayotis Alexakis, Chairman of the Athens Stock Exchange: The index will improve the profile of all Greek companies to both domestic and international investors.