The index provider MSCI said it would drop seven companies that the US government has labelled as having ties to the Chinese military from its indices, after President Donald Trump barred US investors from holding stakes in such businesses.
MSCI said the seven companies — which included SMIC, China’s biggest chipmaker — would be removed from its global equity indices at the end of the trading day on January 5. The businesses will be dropped from MSCI’s popular emerging markets indices.
The decision has been keenly anticipated, given MSCI indices are the benchmark for many money managers who specialise in emerging markets. More than $12tn is invested in funds benchmarked to one of the company’s thousands of indices, according to MSCI.