MSCI has chosen not to press ahead with a controversial plan to add mainland Chinese equities to its global benchmark indices, while South Korea and Taiwan will no longer be considered for a developed markets ranking.
As part of its annual review, MSCI, an index provider, said it would still consider including China’s so-called A shares in its 2015 review. MSCI Korea and MSCI Taiwan indexes were removed from potential reclassification based on a lack of significant improvements over the past few years in key areas that affect accessibility in those markets.
The prospect of including mainland Chinese equities in global benchmarks would be a major milestone in the opening up of China’s financial markets. More than 200 stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen – known as A shares – would be added to the MSCI China index, which is made up only of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong and New York.