Equity index provider MSCI Inc. on Wednesday reclassified the MSCI Russian Indexes from “emerging markets” to “standalone markets” status, and called Russia’s equity markets “uninvestable” in the wake of harsh sanctions.
“The reclassification decision will be implemented in one step across all MSCI Indexes, including standard, custom and derived indexes, at a price that is effectively zero and as of the close of March 9,” MSCI said in a statement.
MSCI
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said it consulted with a number of institutional investors, who it said overwhelmingly confirmed that “the Russian equity market is currently uninvestable and that Russian securities should be removed from the MSCI Emerging Markets Indexes.”
MSCI said it will continue to monitor developments and “may issue additional guidance or announce further changes relevant to specific indexes, if necessary.”
The index provider FTSE Russell, a unit of the London Stock Exchange
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on Thursday said it was removing Russia from all its indexes, effective from Monday’s open.
“Following consideration by the FTSE Russell Index Governance Board of the feedback received from the independent advisory committees, other market participants and given the current market conditions, FTSE Russell announces that in accordance with Rule 2.1 of the FTSE Russell Index Policy ‘In the Event Clients are Unable to Trade a Market’ Russia will be deleted from all FTSE Russell Equity Indices effective from the open on Monday 07 March 2022,” it said.
Russian stock markets have remained closed this week amid global sanctions targeting Russian businesses and individuals in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. The ruble’s
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value has collapsed and stocks of some of Russia’s largest companies have crashed on the London Stock Exchange.
