MSCI Greece Small-Cap Index as of September 28
Share indices compiler Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) said yesterday it will add a newly created MSCI Greece Small-Cap Index to its small-cap index series after the close of trade on September 28. The move reflects MSCI’s reclassification of Greece as a developed market index. MSCI’s Europe Small-Cap Index represents the small-cap segment in 16 developed equity markets in Europe. The index will include 494 securities with a pro forma market capitalization of $185 billion. The objective of the MSCI small-cap indices is to represent the business activities of small-cap companies across developed markets, MSCI said in a statement. The index designer selects the most liquid securities relative to their market capitalization, targeting for index inclusion 40 percent of the full market capitalization of the eligible small-cap universe within each industry group in each country. After joining the eurozone in January this year, Greece shed its emerging market tag and was upgraded to developed market status by MSCI on May 31. According to Kappa Securities, the relative weight of the MSCI Greece Small-Cap Index is 0.72 percent of MSCI World Small-Cap Index, 1.56 percent of MSCI EAFE Small-Cap Index and 2.82 percent of MSCI Europe Small-Cap Index. The list of stocks (pro forma) includes 24, eight of which are also included in MSCI Greece, said Nikos Diamandopoulos at Kappa’s institutional sales desk. (Because of) the small weight of Greece in the series, the impact on the market as a whole is expected to be limited, said EFG Eurobank Securities. Yesterday the Athens bourse’s FTSE/ASE small-cap index was down 1.16 percent at 847.01 points with mid-caps losing 0.46 percent. MSCI will rebalance all its small-cap country indices based on its revised methodology on September 28, broadening eligible companies’ full market capitalization range to $200-1,500 million from $200-900 million previously. MSCI’s pro forma list includes the following constituents: Titan Cement, Hellenic Petroleum, ETBA Bank, Folli-Follie, Papastratos, Hellenic Exchanges, Delta Singular, Athens Water Board, Aktor, Chipita, Olympic Technical, Aegek, Maillis, Hyatt, Alfa Alfa Holdings, NBG Real Estate, General Bank, Lambrakis Press, Mytilineos, Germanos, Intralot, Altec, Athens Medical, and Minoan Lines. Other stocks like Motor Oil, Petrola and Iaso are also mentioned by other brokers as candidates for inclusion.
