MSCI will decide on Tuesday whether to include Chinese domestic A-shares in its global indices. Though the index provider has demurred on the issue in the past, rejecting the inclusion three times previously, many analysts see a higher likelihood of inclusion this time.
The decision is of great consequence for international investors, potentially pushing global funds to invest billions in domestic Chinese stocks, but some officials and analysts in China are downplaying its significance.
“Regardless of the result, the direction and pace of China’s capital market reform and opening up will not change,” China Securities Regulatory Commission spokesman Zhang Xiaojun was quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying.
Chief strategist at Sinolink Securities Li Lifeng said that “even if included, the symbolic significance is much bigger than the real impact on capital inflows to China, […] In the short term, it’s more of a boost to the general risk sentiment.”