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MSCI increases Brazilian, Chinese stocks in indexes

(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-13 08:57

MSCI Inc is increasing the number of Brazilian and Chinese stocks in its global standard indexes following a semi-annual review, reflecting a rally in the world's two largest developing markets.

China's Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Ltd and Brazil's Lojas Renner SA and PDG Realty SA Empreendimentos e Participacoes are the biggest additions to its emerging-markets index, MSCI said in a statement.

"Emerging markets' contribution to global GDP has been increasing substantially in recent years but from an indexes point of view, they still have a very small weighting overall," said Nader Naeimi, a Sydney-based strategist at AMP Capital Markets, which holds $75 billion in assets. "That's a trend that we're likely to see over the coming years."

China's gross domestic product expanded 8.9 percent in the third quarter, underscoring the nation's role as the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Naeimi said he favors stocks that benefit from China's growth as well as commodity producers in Latin America. He didn't name any companies.

Related readings:  Stocks in Europe, Asia retreat; MSCI index also drops  Nine Dragons Paper succumbs to 'butterfly effect'  Nine Dragons Paper aims to cut gearing by half  Nine Dragons Paper to reduce current liabilities

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a gauge of 22 developing nations, has surged 71 percent this year as signs the worst of the global recession is over spurred demand for higher-yielding assets and bolstered the outlook for commodity producers. That outpaced a 26-percent increase in the MSCI World Index of 23 developed countries. The changes will occur after the close of trading on Nov 30.

Brazil had the most net additions, with 11 companies included and none removed. Both Lojas Renner, Brazil's biggest publicly traded clothing retailer, and PDG Realty, a homebuilder that last month said it was selling stock together with its shareholders, have more than doubled this year in Sao Paulo trading.

China will have seven additions, while only one stock, Guangshen Railway Co, will be deleted. Nine Dragons, the country's biggest maker of containerboard paper for packaging, has gained more than fivefold in Hong Kong trading this year.

The MSCI China Index, which tracks mainly the H shares of mainland companies traded in Hong Kong, will also include Anta Sports Products Ltd, BBMG Corp, Golden Eagle Retail Group Ltd, Greentown China Holdings Ltd, Poly (Hong Kong) Investment Ltd and Xinao Gas Holdings Ltd.