Jun. 23, 2011 (Marketwire Canada) --
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- GREAT PANTHER SILVER LIMITED (TSX:GPR)(NYSE Amex:GPL) (the "Company") is set to join the Russell Global Index when Russell Investments reconstitutes its comprehensive set of global equity indexes on June 24, according to a preliminary list of additions posted June 10 on www.russell.com/indexes.
Membership in the Russell Global Index, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the appropriate large-cap, small-cap, all-cap indexes as well as the applicable style, sector and country indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.
"We are pleased to join the Russell Global Index following our recent addition to the Market Vectors™ Junior Gold Miners Index (MV GDXJ)," said Robert Archer, Great Panther's President & CEO. "Membership in these indexes is a testament to the continued growth of Great Panther Silver, both at our mines and in the markets, and will help raise our profile with institutional investors."
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading US$3.9 trillion in institutional assets currently are benchmarked to them.
The Russell Global Index, which captures 98% of investable securities globally, is reconstituted annually and all sub-indexes are recalibrated simultaneously to accurately measure current market realities for each market segment. These investment tools originated from Russell's multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers.
Russell launched the Russell Global Index in 2007, leveraging the popular methodology from its U.S. indexes. The broad-market Russell 3000® Index serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index.