MSCI raises Taiwan's weighting in 1 index, leaves 2 unchanged

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) MSCI Inc., a global index provider, has raised Taiwan's weighting in one of its major indexes and left the country's weighting unchanged in two other indexes after a regular index review.

In a statement released on Thursday, Taipei time, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan's weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent.

Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan's weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent.

MSCI index reviews are conducted in February, May, August and November each year. The indexes, provided in U.S. dollar terms, help guide professional investors in adjusting their portfolios.

The latest index adjustments are set to take effect after the market closes on Nov. 24.

According to MSCI, China enjoyed the largest weighting increase of 0.10 percentage points in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index after the index review, while Saudi Arabia suffered the steepest cut of 0.07 percentage points in the index.

Weighting changes for other emerging markets in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index were limited following the index review, MSCI's data showed.

In addition, MSCI added six Taiwanese stocks to the MSCI Global Standard Indexes: baseboard management controller chip designer Aspeed Technology Inc., automotive solution provider BizLink Holding Inc., IC testing services supplier Chroma ATE Inc., printed circuit board (PCB) maker Gold Circuit Electronics Ltd., IC testing firm King Yuan Electronics Co., and electric motor producer Teco Electric & Machinery Co.

The inclusion largely reflected an increase in share prices of the six stocks to boost their market value in recent months, riding the waves of a boom of artificial intelligence applications, market analysts said.

For example, Teco shares had soared more than 120 percent in the past three months due to its partnership with AI server maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.

But all six have been removed from the Global Small Cap Indexes, according to MSCI.

In addition, MSCI has removed seven stocks from the MSCI Global Standard Indexes.

They are PC vendor Acer Inc., flat panel maker AUO Corp., gaming PC brand Micro-Star International Co., power management solution provider Silergy Corp., electronics component distributor Synnex Technology International Corp., uninterruptible power system maker Voltronics Power Technology Corp. and semiconductor component distributor WPG Holdings Ltd.

The seven firms have been added to the MSCI Global Small Cap Indexes, according to MSCI.

In addition to the seven stocks, four others -- optical equipment maker Ability Enterprise Co., PCB maker Dynamic Holding Co., voice user Interface developer intelligo Technology Inc. and electronics component maker Longwell Co. -- have also been included in the MSCI Global Small Cap Indexes.

After the quarterly review, the number of constituents of the MSCI Taiwan Index fell to 86 from 87, MSCI said.

Among the 86 constituents, MSCI said Chroma ATE saw the largest weighting upgrade from zero to 0.42 percent, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s (TSMC) weighting was lowered by 0.51 percentage points, the steepest cut, to 58.03 percent.