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May 14 (NBD) -- MSCI Inc., a leading provider of research-based indexes and analytics, on Tuesday (Beijing Time) announced the results of the May 2019 Semi-Annual Index Review for the MSCI Equity Indexes, and has taken the first step to increase the representation of Chinese shares in its benchmark gauges.

The weighting of mainland-traded shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index will double starting after the market close on May 28, with the inclusion factor, or adjusted free-float market cap, lifted to 10 per cent from 5 per cent, MSCI said in a media release.

MSCI will add 26 new A shares to the MSCI China A Large Cap Index and there will be no deletion, bringing the number of constituent companies in the index to 264. Among the 26 new names added to the index, 18 are ChiNext stocks, more than expected.

There will be 29 additions to and five deletions from the MSCI China A Mid Cap Index resulting in 173 index constituents.

Adjustments will also be made in the MSCI China A Onshore Indexes and the MSCI China All Shares Indexes.

Brokerage company China Securities pointed out in a report that the additions of A shares to the MSCI indexes will bring a foreign capital inflow of 17.27 billion U.S. dollars. And after the scheduled three stages of increases in China stocks weighting, the capital inflow to the A-share market will total 65.42 billion U.S. dollars, estimated the securities firm.

National Business Daily (NBD) noticed that what MSCI included are China's blue-chip stocks, which are favored by actively managed funds.

In an interview with NBD, a private-equity manager said the ChiNext stocks, which are to newly included into the MSCI indexes, also will attract more attention from foreign investors.

Fan Bo, vice president of Cornerstone Capital, told NBD that MSCI's clear stipulation of eligible ChiNext shares and the inclusion factor indicates that the world's biggest index compiler is accelerating the process of lifting up the weight of China A shares in its indexes, which is likely to drive foreign investors to make a move in advance and speed up capital influx into the A-share market.

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Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn