Infosys Technologies, the country’s second biggest software services exporter, just clinched yet another unique distinction.
It became the first Indian corporate to be included in a global index when NASDAQ announced that it had chosen the company to be a part of the NASDAQ-100 Index effective market opening on Monday, December 18, 2006.
This comes at a time when Infosys is celebrating its silver jubilee anniversary. It now joins the ranks of Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, Intel and Yahoo which form part of the NASDAQ-100.
On the NASDAQ, the Infy scrip closed at $55.03 (up 0.7%) on Friday with volumes of 2.07 million shares although on the National Stock Exchange(NSE) in India the scrip closed lower by 1.27% at Rs 2,195.55. At the time of ranking, Infosys ADS had a market capitalisation of $5.6 billion on the NASDAQ. On the NSE Infy ended on Friday with a market capitalisation of Rs 1.21 lakh crore.Besides Infosys, the other two stocks to be added to the NASDAQ-100 include Level 3 Communications Inc and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
The NASDAQ-100 comprises of the 100 largest non financial stocks listed on the NASDAQ. Infosys, Level 3 and Vertex come in place of JDS Uniphase Corporation, Lincare Holdings Inc and Urban Outfitters Inc.
“The NASDAQ-100 Index is one of the world’s most recognised benchmarks that owes this distinction to its components-companies that are leaders in a diverse range of industries,” said John L Jacobs, executive vice-president of NASDAQ.
The inclusion of stocks into the NASDAQ-100 happens on the basis of a re-ranking exercise which is carried out each December.
“We are delighted to hear about the inclusion in the NASDAQ-100 Index. Companies like ours are helping corporates worldwide to effectively compete in a flat world,” said V Balakrishnan, CFO.
The Infosys inclusion comes after the company launched its third sponsored ADS issue which saw the floating stock increase in the international market (NASDAQ). Currently close to 20% of the Infosys stock is available on the NASDAQ.
As a part of the index, the Infy scrip will now be included in the NASDAQ-100 Index Tracking Stock, an exchange traded fund (ETF). The NASDAQ-100 along with NASDAQ Financial-100 Index were launched way back in January 1985.
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