Getting the measure of indexes

The range of equity indexes is expanding, which makes it more important than ever that investors understand how the structure of an index relates to their needs. Michael Marray reports

As the universe of emerging markets structured products continues its rapid expansion, investment themes based on stock indexes are becoming more tightly focused.

Whereas two or three years ago a broad global emerging markets or Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) theme was enough for most private banking clients, in today's market high-net-worth investors are increasingly likely to want to make narrower bets based on small groups of countries or even single jurisdictions.

But replicating the