MSCI Barra has announced the launch of the MSCI China A Index.
MSCI Barra, a leading provider of benchmark indices and risk management analysis, has announced the launch of the MSCI China A Index.
The company said in a Tuesday press conference that the index was developed specifically for domestic investors in China after extensive client consultations.
It is also the first A share index built to represent the underlying industry structure of the A share market with a limited number of liquid and investable securities.
MSCI Barra also announced its plans to open a sales and client services office in
Shanghai to support its growing business in China.
About the MSCI China A Index
The MSCI China A Index is a standalone domestic index based on a methodology developed specifically for the needs of domestic A share investors. After assessing the needs of investors, MSCI applied its 35 years of benchmarking experience to create this innovative methodology. The key features of the new MSCI China A Index include:
--Transparent and objective methodology designed to produce an index that is representative, investable, and low in turnover
--Bottom-up construction by industry group using the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS)designed to capture the economic diversity of the market
--Automatic inclusion of the largest 25 securities (free float-adjusted) representing the most sizeable companies in the A share market
--MSCI's unique sampling methodology, size and liquidity screens, and comprehensive free float-adjustment of index constituent weights designed to result in a truly investable benchmark index
--Price and dividend adjusted index calculations supporting a range of performance uses
--Annual index rebalance and quarterly index reviews designed to ensure timely reflection of market changes
Khalid Ghayur, Global Head of Benchmark Research at MSCI Barra, explained: The MSCI China A Index provides A share investors with the first investable benchmark index built and maintained from the ground up to represent the economic structure of the A share market. MSCI achieves this with a limited number of liquid and investable securities. Additionally, the index maintenance methodology is designed to produce an index with low turnover, to serve as an efficient reference for managing portfolios."
The MSCI China A Index is produced to the same high standard that has led to over USD 3 trillion in assets worldwide benchmarked against MSCI indices. This includes the existing MSCI China Index, which represents shares available to international investors. This launch of MSCI's second domestic index series follows the successful launch of the MSCI US Equity Indices in 2003, which now have over USD 110 billion in assets benchmarked against them.
