S&P; 500 Index to Be Revised

NEW YORK — Standard & Poor’s Corp. said Monday that it will restructure its widely followed index of 500 issues traded on the New York Stock Exchange, effective April 6.

S&P;’s 500 composite stock price index will no longer contain a fixed number of industrial, utility, financial and transportation companies. The composite index currently includes four sector indexes with a set number of stocks: 400 industrials, 40 utilities, 40 financials and 20 transportation companies.

The investment research company said it will continue to calculate sector indexes, but they will be referred to as the S&P; industrial index, the utilities index, the financial index and the transportation index. The composite index will still contain a total of 500 companies.

Although this is the first structural change in the S&P; 500 index since 1976, market analysts said it shouldn’t make a significant difference for stock traders. The index, which represents more than $2 trillion in market value, is used as the basis for many index-linked investment funds.

S&P; said the revamping is designed to respond to economic changes. S&P; Executive Vice President Robert S. Andrialis said the change will allow S&P; to be more flexible.