U.S. index provider MSCI said yesterday that recent violent market gyrations in China and a barrage of interventions by the authorities to stop the rout will not be a factor in deciding whether to include China-listed shares in its emerging market index.

    China’s stock market has plunged 40 percent since mid-June on concerns over a slowing economy. The slump has been accompanied by a raft of actions by regulators that included rate cuts, a devaluation of the yuan and attempts to rein in short-selling and margin lending.

    In June, just before the selloff began, MSCI announced it would hold off adding China-listed A shares to its MSCI Emerging Markets Index, but said it expected those shares to be incorporated once outstanding issues relating to the accessibility of the Chinese market were resolved.

    That remains the case, said Sebastien Lieblich, executive director of MSCI Index Management Research.

    “The volatility we have witnessed in the market and the recent events have absolutely no bearing on our decision,” Lieblich said. “The [Chinese] market is just going through a correction, structurally speaking nothing has changed.”

    Lieblich said the only thing that could change MSCI’s plans was if regulators in China passed measures to make the market less accessible to foreign investors, a move that he did not expect. (SD-Agencies)