The Korea Exchange on Tuesday celebrated 20 years of success that the Korea Composite Stock Price Index 200 (KOSPI 200), the compressed version of the nation’s benchmark index KOSPI, has enjoyed.

While KOSPI will continue to remain the key indicator for the nation’s stock market, other over-the-counter indexes such as KOSDAQ and KONEX will also be expanded for the sake of market diversification, according to the KRX.

The KRX on Tuesday held the Index Conference 2014 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of KOSPI 200.

The index, indicating the total market price of 200 carefully selected companies, is considered a compressed version of KOSPI and thus a valid criteria for the nation’s economic flow.

But as it only involves a representative bracket, it often fails to reflect the reality of the market and is also criticized for excluding smaller companies from the main trend.

Despite criticism, the variety of stock indexes is crucial not only for the development of the stock market, but also for the sake of investors’ profitability, according to Kho Bong-chan, professor of business administration at Seoul National University and the KRX Index chief.

“Stable, index-based stocks turned out to be much more profitable than high-risk stocks, despite the prevalent prejudice that high returns pair with high risks,” he said through an earlier report.

In order to supplement KOSPI, which is limited to the market’s main stream only, the KRX is also planning to expand the room for smaller, non-KOSPI companies.

“We hope that today’s event will help investors understand Korea’s stock index market and thereupon share their related strategies,” said an official of the KRX.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)