MSCI moves: a trillion dollar decision?
As beyondbrics reported on Tuesday, index provider MSCI has rejigged its emerging market classifications. The headline grabber is that Greece has been put into the emerging market group. Up from frontier to emerging status come the UAE and Qatar. Morocco was relegated back to the frontier group.
It’s embarrassing for Greece and an overdue vote for the UAE and Qatar. But how much of a difference will it make? Potentially, quite a lot, actually. Continue reading »
The new emerging market… Greece
It’s easy to see why Russell Indices, the US index and fund management company, is relegating Greece from its developed economies’ league. About time too. But why is Russell moving Greece into its emerging markets’ list. Emerging? Submerging, more like.
Emerging markets are the fast-growing economies of the world. So much so that many economists have stopped talking about EMs and refer instead to fast-growth economies. Jim O’Neill, the Goldman Sachs executive who invented the Brics, calls these countries “The Growth Map”. Continue reading »
Equity index to track Myanmar
The recent completion of Myanmar’s new foreign investment law has further fuelled investor interest in the country with almost daily news of investment plans, distribution deals and high-level business missions.
Now the creation of an equity index to track Myanmar-related stocks gives portfolio investors an early chance to grab a share of the action – even though the country has no stock exchange. Continue reading »
Kenya: enter the index
It’s been a good week for African fixed income, which is receiving a profile boost courtesy of a handful of indices.
First, sub-Saharan Africa’s two biggest economies, Nigeria and South Africa, joined leading global government bond indices. Now Kenya’s securities exchange has followed by launching the country’s first government bond index, which it hopes will deepen capital markets. Continue reading »
Vanguard’s index switch to hit S Korea
It’s all in the detail. US fund manager Vanguard’s decision to switch to tracking FTSE indices for six funds worth over $120bn rather than the MSCI equivalents will have a big knock-on effect on emerging markets.
The decision could see a shift of billions as the definition of what constitutes an emerging market differs between the two groups. South Korea may be one of the biggest losers. Continue reading »
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Stefan Wagstyl
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
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