Market Turmoil Slows China's Advance in Key Stock Index

   By Quentin Webb 
 

One of the world's biggest index providers is slowing the inclusion of Chinese stocks in its global benchmarks, sparing investors from making big changes to their portfolios during a period of market turbulence.

Last June, FTSE Russell began adding stocks listed in mainland China to some of its major indexes, including some widely followed emerging-market benchmarks. The inclusion was supposed to be a three-stage process that would be complete this month, driving as much as $10 billion of inflows from passive fund managers into China's stock market, the company earlier estimated.

This week, FTSE Russell, which is part of LSE Group, said stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen have reached 70% of their final weighting in its indexes and the remaining 30% will only be added in June. It said client feedback persuaded it to introduce this delay.

FTSE Russell previously estimated that Chinese stocks would make up 5.6% of its FTSE Emerging Index when fully included. That was before the plunge in global stock markets in the year to date.

U.S. asset manager Vanguard Group has multiple funds that track FTSE indexes. Its FTSE Emerging Markets exchange-traded fund had net assets of nearly $86 billion at the end of February.

Write to Quentin Webb at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 24, 2020 02:54 ET (06:54 GMT)

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