Morgan Stanley Capital International includes 3 Vietnamese stocks in Frontier Markets Index

An investor watches stock indices on an e-board. Vietnam currently holds the largest market share in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), a leading global provider of research-based indexes and analytics, has added three Vietnamese stocks to MSCI Frontier Markets Index.

They are FPT Securities Joint Stock Company (FTS), Nam Kim Group (NKG) and Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS).

MSCI has recently announced the list for its February review, which includes the most important index set for the MSCI Frontier Markets Index.

Besides the addition of three Vietnamese stocks, the MSCI Frontier Markets Index has also added three Pakistani stocks, one Slovenian stock, one Moroccan stock and one Romanian stock. Conversely, the index removes nine Nigerian stocks and two Omani stocks. After this restructuring, the number of stocks in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index will decrease to 209.

Vietnam currently holds the largest market share in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index. As of January 31, 2024, Vietnam's market share in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index was 27.12%, followed by Romania (11.5%), Morocco (10%) and others. Many large funds, hundreds of millions of US dollars in size, allocate investments to frontier markets (including Vietnam) based on the MSCI Frontier Markets Index.

The top 10 largest stocks in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index as of January 31 include two Vietnamese stocks, Hoà Phát Group (HPG) (with a weight of 2.84%) and Vinhomes (VHM) (2.27%).

On the other hand, for the less prominent index set, the MSCI Frontier Markets Smallcaps Indexes, five Vietnamese stocks have been added, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Hoa An JSC (DHA), Nafoods Group Joint Stock Company (NAF), Van Phat Hung Corporation (VPH), and Vietnam Tanker Joint Stock Company (VTO). Conversely, the index removes Nam Kim Group (NKG), Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS) and Vietnam Power Development Joint Stock Company (VPD), in which NKG and SJS were removed to be added to the MSCI Frontier Markets Index.

Vietnam currently holds the largest market share in the MSCI Frontier Markets Smallcaps Indexes, with a weight of 31.47%. However, there are no notable funds currently investing in frontier markets based on this index set.

The changes to the above index sets will take effect from February 29, 2024. The next restructuring will occur on May 14, 2024./.

VNA