Stoxx Limited, the firm that operates the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 index, has published the new list of companies that will make up its bluechip index and, as expected, Ireland's sole previous representative, AIB, has been dropped.

The new list, which was released late last night after the markets closed, is dominated by French and German companies. Rather than selecting firms on a country-by-country basis, the new list chooses companies based on their market capitalisation so the emphasis is on companies that are European sector leaders rather than merely the biggest player in their domestic market.

As a result, AIB, the only Irish firm to have featured on the index, has been dropped while a host of larger European companies, such as BASF, Dresdner Bank and Sanofi, have been included. Other firms dropped from the index with AIB include Fiat, Lufthansa and Portugal Telecom. The changes to the index take effect from September 20th.

Stoxx, a joint venture between Dow Jones and the Swiss Exchange, the Paris Bourse and Germany's Deutsche Borse, signalled in June that it was changing its selection procedure to improve the index's transparency. The rejigging of the index is part of a battle among various companies to launch the index that becomes the new benchmark index for the euro zone. Compilers promoting indices include FTSE International, which is jointly owned by the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Times. It launched a new index called Euro Stars in June to rival the Euro Stoxx 50. Morgan Stanley Capital International and Standard & Poor's which is owned by American media group McGraw Hill also have European stock market indices.

Analysts say the Euro Stoxx 50, which is particularly popular with the German retail market, is widely seen as Europe's equivalent to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

However, firms are keen to be included on the Euro Stoxx 50 as a growing number of fund managers use it in deciding their asset allocation, particularly for passive funds. AIB's share price has suffered in recent weeks as a result of the likelihood that it would be dropped from the index although many traders believe the impact has now been fully priced in.