MSCI adds more China stocks to global emerging markets index

The MSCI move is expected to boost the Chinese stock markets, which are performing poorly this year

NEW YORK (Reuters): MSCI Inc on Tuesday said it would add several onshore Chinese stocks to its closely watched and widely duplicated emerging-markets index.

The financial data company said it would add S.F. Holding Co Ltd., 360 Security Technology Inc  and China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, among other names, to the benchmark. 

MSCI has been broadening exposure to stocks traded onshore in the world’s second-largest economy in its indexes after announcing it would do so last year. That move has lent a hand to one of the poorer performing equity markets worldwide this year, the victim of concerns about slowing growth.

Trillions of dollars follow MSCI’s indexes, including funds that mimic its benchmarks. Foreign investors previously focused primarily on Chinese stocks traded offshore, for instance in Hong Kong, but have made use of new programs granting access to onshore markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

As part of its semi-annual review, MSCI will also implement a previously announced move to broaden its prior telecom sector, now called “Communication Services,” to include market-leading names once grouped as consumer or technology stocks. The stocks now in the rebooted index include Netflix Inc, Google parent Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc.

MSCI also said it would add Polymetal International Plc and delete Rushydro from its Russia index.

The changes will take effect at the end of November.