The BBC Global 30 is calculated using the share price of the largest listed company by stock market value from the ten most important industrial sectors in each of the three regions, including 'oil and gas', 'basic materials', 'industrials', 'consumer goods', 'health goods', 'consumer services', 'telecommunications', 'utilities', 'financials' and 'technology', states an official release.

To be calculated by global index provider FTSE Group, the BBC Global 30 will be a useful editorial tool for programmes and outlets like BBC World's World Business Report, Ceefax and the business pages of BBC News Online.

The BBC's business and economics editor Daniel Dodd has been quoted in the release as saying, "What we wanted was our own BBC branded index to use as an editorial tool to help us track the health of the world economy.

"The BBC Global 30 allows us to follow the market performance of 30 top companies across all key economic sectors in Europe, the US and Asia.

"It reinforces just how seriously the BBC takes the business agenda".

The BBC will continue to use other established market indexes, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the FTSE 100. The BBC Global 30 constituents will be revised each year by FTSE International, based on strict guidelines.