China says global index without A-shares is incomplete

A global stock index without Chinese A-shares is incomplete, China's securities supervisor said Wednesday. China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) made the remarks just hours after global equity indexes provider MSCI announced it would delay the inclusion of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks, or A-shares, on to its emerging market index. CSRC said the decision by MSCI will not affect the opening-up or reform of China's capital market, adding that China needs to continue to build a stable and healthy capital market. MSCI had raised expectations that it would accept A-shares when it laid out a "roadmap" for inclusion in March. But on Tuesday in New York, MSCI said it would delay including A-shares in its Emerging Markets (EM) Index. Chinese authorities have made significant improvements in the accessibility of the China A-shares market for global investors, but "investors would like to see further improvements in the accessibility of the China A-shares market before its inclusion," said Remy Briand, MSCI's managing director and global head of research. MSCI said it would consider the A-shares' inclusion as part of its 2017 review and it did not rule out a potential off-cycle announcement, should further significant positive developments occur ahead of June 2017. The delay will have a limited impact on China's A-share market, but may dampen market sentiment in the short term, CICC analyst Wang Hanfeng said. The key Shanghai index opened 1 percent lower after the MSCI announcement, but the index rebounded in the morning trade, rising 1 percent as of 11 am.