MSCI to offer A-share index for international investors

The stock-index compiler MSCI said on Thursday it would offer an index of China's A shares for international investors, after putting on hold plans to include the shares in its main emerging-market index.

China is gradually opening its market for A shares - yuan-denominated domestic stocks listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

Quotas restrict access to A shares for foreign investors, but expansion of the quota system has accelerated in recent months, as China looks to liberalize its markets.

MSCI began a consultation earlier this year about including A shares in its main emerging-market index, which has around $1.3 trillion in assets benchmarked against it. But it put off those plans when some investors objected that access to the shares was limited.

The A shares remain on review for a possible move to the emerging index in 2015.

China, the world's largest emerging market, is already the biggest component of the MSCI emerging-market index. China's current share of the index, however, is made up of domestic shares listed in Hong Kong, or H shares, and stocks listed in China but denominated in US or Hong Kong dollars, or B shares.

The new China A International index, as well as a new China All Shares index, are designed for international investors with quotas for investing in the domestic yuan-denominated stock markets, MSCI said.