TOKYO -- Nikkei announced on May 18 a proposed overhaul of the rules governing its Nikkei 225 index, aiming to better reflect changes in industrial structure.
The plan includes renaming the existing communications category in the Nikkei industry classification system to information and communications. It will also reclassify IT-related stocks from the services sector to information and communications. Stocks tied to the restaurant industry will be moved from services to retail.
In selecting constituents for the Nikkei 225, the index groups 36 industries under the classification into six broader sectors and determines additions and exclusions with a view to avoiding concentration in any one sector. The current sectors are technology, financials, consumer goods, materials, capital goods and others, and transportation and utilities. Under the proposal, a new information and communications sector will be created, raising the total to seven. New rules will also be introduced for replacing constituents within the same sector.
The revisions are scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1 and will be reflected in the index's regular review this fall. Nikkei will solicit public feedback via its official index website Nikkei Indexes before making a final decision. Comments will be accepted until June 15, with results to be published around July.
