Goldman Sachs Announces the Introduction of GS-IST Goldman Sachs Israel Technology Index

Business Wire, Nov 9, 2000

Business Editors

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 2000

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) today announces the launching of the Goldman Sachs Israel Technology Index (GS-IST). GS-IST is designed as an equity benchmark for U.S.-traded equity securities in the Israel Technology sector.

Developed jointly by the Goldman Sachs Israel Technology Research and the Goldman Sachs Equity Derivatives Research teams, GS-IST is a modified capitalization-weighted index of 35 Israel Technology stocks. Index shares are fixed to reflect a maximum cap weight of 8.5% at each rebalancing date. During the first year, the index is rebalanced quarterly after the close of the third Friday in October 2000, January 2001, April 2001 and July 2001. Thereafter, the index will be rebalanced semiannually after the close of the third Friday of every January and July. To be included in GS-IST, companies must either be incorporated in Israel, or have 50% of their operations and/or R&D and/or assets in Israel.

GS-IST index levels are currently available on Bloomberg (Ticker:GSSIIST) and Reuters (Ticker:GSSI1), and constituent level data is currently available on Bloomberg. All information will soon be available on the Goldman Sachs Public Web Site.

                 Performances as of October 31, 2000

                    GS-IST      GSTI       S&P 500    Nasdaq 100
1999               143.86%      88.58%      19.53%     101.95%
YTD                 -3.65%     -11.88%       2.71%     -11.48%


The GS-IST Index is comprised of:

Ticker          Company                              Weight(%)

CHKP          CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECH LTD.           8.50
CMVT          COMVERSE TECHNOLOGY INC.                 8.50
DOX           AMDOCS LTD.                              8.50
MERQ          MERCURY INTERACTIVE CORP.                8.50
ECIL          ECI TELECOM LTD.                         8.50
ORBK          ORBOTECH LTD.                            5.81
SCIX          SCITEX LTD.                              5.59
AUDC          AUDIOCODES LTD.                          5.10
GILTF         GILAT SATELLITE NETWORKS LTD.            4.85
VYYO          VYYO INC.                                3.37
DSPG          DSP GROUP INC.                           3.33
NICE          NICE SYSTEMS LTD.                        2.56
BRZE          BREEZECOM LTD.                           2.45
GALT          GALILEO TECHNOLOGY LTD.                  2.42
ZRAN          ZORAN CORP.                              2.40
FLSH          M-SYSTEMS FLASH DISK PIONEER LTD.        1.83
RVSN          RADVISION LTD.                           1.81
CRNT          CERAGON NETWORKS ORD.                    1.58
RDWR          RADWARE LTD.                             1.36
FORTY         FORMULA SYSTEMS 1985 LTD.                1.23
FNDT          FUNDTECH LTD.                            1.17
INDG          INDIGO N V                               1.17
CTCH          COMMTOUCH SOFTWARE INC.                  1.15
ECTX          ECTEL LTD.                               1.04
TSEM          TOWER SEMICONDUCTOR LTD.                 0.97
BWEB          BACKWEB TECHNOLOGIES LTD.                0.96
MTLK          METALINK LTD.                            0.77
EFCX          ELECTRIC FUEL CORP.                      0.76
ACCD          ACCORD NETWORKS LTD.                     0.69
MGIC          MAGIC SOFTWARE ENTERPRISES LTD.          0.68
CAMT          CAMTEK LTD.                              0.66
TTIL          TTI TEAM TELECOM INTL. LTD.              0.52
VOCL          VOCALTEC COMMUNICATIONS LTD.             0.45
JCDA          JACADA LTD.                              0.43
ORCT          ORCKIT COMMUNICATIONS                    0.38

Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking and securities firm, providing a full range of investing, advisory and financing services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base, which includes corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. Goldman Sachs is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.