The Yomiuri Shimbun is introducing a new stock index in March and aims to make it a benchmark for the Japanese market, the company announced Thursday.

It will be called the Yomiuri 333 and have 333 constituent companies.

The newspaper publisher said a distinguishing characteristic of the new index is that it will equally weight each stock in calculating the value.

Existing Japan market benchmarks use different calculation methods.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange-owned Tokyo Stock Price Index, or Topix, is capitalization weighted, as is the 198-constituent MSCI Japan Index. Nihon Keizai Shimbun’s 225-issue Nikkei average is price weighted.

Due to their calculation methods, these indices can be heavily influenced by stocks with large market capitalizations or high prices.

The equal-weighting method will “be less affected by movements of some large or specific companies,” so it will better reflect the Japanese stock market, The Yomiuri Shimbun said in a statement.

“We hope to provide more information for investors to assess the strength of the Japanese stock market in a more multifaceted way.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is price weighted, while the Nasdaq Composite Index, the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index and the S&P 500 are capitalization weighted.

The Yomiuri Shimbun said Nomura Fiduciary Research & Consulting will calculate the Yomiuri 333 index.

“I believe it's good to see entities other than exchanges issuing new indices, as it broadens the choices,” said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities, adding he is curious to see how the new index does in gaining recognition and how market participants including institutional investors will use it.

Indexes that become established and recognized as good indicators of market value are used by institutions to judge the performance of their portfolios and for the creation of financial products.

Owners of indexes can make money through licensing of the index to institutions and by selling the data. Indexes are also a good marketing tool for the owner.

The Yomiuri Shimbun was founded in 1874 and has the highest circulation of any newspaper globally.