MSCI president expects more Chinese A-share inclusion plans by year end
Index compiler will continue picking eligible A shares from the Stock Connect scheme, the usage of which Baer Pettit expects ‘to increase dramatically in the years ahead’
Many more Chinese A shares could be included in MSCI’s benchmark index in future, the index compiler’s president Baer Pettit said on Thursday, in Hong Kong to kick-start the first phase of a process to include an initial 230 large-cap stocks in its MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index.
MSCI will add A shares, yuan-denominated Chinese stocks listed in either Shanghai or Shenzhen on Friday, to its EM Index, tracked by more than US$1.9 trillion worth of funds worldwide.
The 230 stocks will represent a rough weighting of 0.4 per cent of the index at a 2.5 per cent partial inclusion factor during the first step of the China entry on Friday.
The second phase of the entry will take place on September 3, which will increase the A shares’ inclusion factor to 5 per cent, which means they will be included based on 5 per cent of their free-float market value.
After the two-step process in June and September, those initial 230 stocks will have an aggregate weight of 0.8 per cent in the index. But Pettit underlined “the next step will come quickly, probably in the second half of this year”.