by Ernie B. Calucag
Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Inc, a global index provider, has added 14 Singapore firms to the MSCI global small-cap indices, while removing three others, according to a statement released in Geneva on Monday.
The changes will be effective at the close of the market on May 31.
Majority of the 14 firms to be added to the small-cap indices are those in the properties sector, including Ascendas India Trust, First REIT, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Oxley Holdings and Sabana Shariah Industrial REIT.
In addition to these properties stocks, the new constituents in the small-cap indices include Amtek Engineering, Elec & Eltek International, K Green Trust, Mewah International, Overseas Union Enterprise, STX OSV Holdings, Sunvic Chemical Holdings, Transpac Industrial and Tuan Sing Holdings.
The stocks to be deleted from the small-cap indices are marine fuel supplier Chemoil Energy, property developer Guocoland and China-based nylon fibre manufacturer Li Heng Chemical. All three are listed on SGX Mainboard.
MSCI also announced its latest review on global micro-cap indices. The index provider said it has added 29 Singapore firms to the micro-cap indices while removing 11 others.
The new additions to micro-cap indices are Anchun International, Armarda Group, Brothers Holdings, Debao Property, First Ship Lease Trust, GK Goh Holdings, Global Palm Resources, Hartawan Holdings, Kreuz Holdings, Leader Environmental, Mencast Holdings, MFS Technology, Mun Siong Engineering, Nordic Group, Ocean Sky International, Pacific Shipping Trust, Pan-United Group, Pertama Holdings, Rickmers Maritime, Samko Timber, Sing Investments, Sinopipe Holdings, SM Summit Holdings, SP Corp, Sunmart Holdings, Tiong Seng Holdings, XMH Holdings, Yamada Green Resources, and Zhongmin Baihui Retail.
The 11 firms deleted from the micro-cap indices include Asiapac Strategic, GP Industries, Guthrie GTS, Hai Leck Holdings, Hwa Hong Corp, Kencana Agri and Viz Branz.
The four others, namely First REIT, Sunvic Chemical, Transpac Industrial and Tuan Sing Holdings were moved from micro-cap to small-cap index.
Meanwhile, MSCI has added 50 Chinese companies to the small-cap indices, while removing three others.
It has also included 30 South Korean firms among the small-cap indices but has deleted 47 others. Thirty-three Japanese companies have been added but seven others have been removed.
MSCI conducts its index reviews four times each year, in February, May, August and November.
The MSCI indices are market capitalisation-weighted and cover both developed and emerging markets.
