By Index Funds Staff

iShares continued its enthusiastic global expansion with the launch of the world's first global sector funds. The funds began trading today (11/16/2001) and cover global technology, telecom, energy, financials and healthcare sectors. They are based on Standard & Poor's Global Indexes.

"As the largest provider of international exchange-traded funds in the
U.S., we're pleased to offer global sector iShares to investors," said Lee
Kranefuss, BGI's CEO of Individual Investor and Exchange-Traded Funds
Business.

The 5 new funds bring the total number of ETFs traded worldwide to 178 funds (with 116 of those Amex-listed) and 97 Barclays Global Investors (BGI) ETFs globally (with 76 of those listed on the Amex).

The funds are built on the S&P Global 1200, a composite index consisting of six regional index components: the S&P 500, the S&P Europe 350, the S&P/TOPIX 150 for Japan, the S&P/TSE 60 for Canada, the S&P Asia Pacific 100 and the S&P Latin America 40.

The new funds include:

• iShares S&P Global Technology Sector Index Fund (Symbol: IXN)
• iShares S&P Global Telecommunications Sector Index Fund (Symbol: IXP)
• iShares S&P Global Energy Sector Index Fund (Symbol: IXC)
• iShares S&P Global Financials Sector Index Fund (Symbol: IXG)
• iShares S&P Global Healthcare Sector Index Fund (Symbol: IXJ)