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S&P Dow Jones Indices to remove 21 Chinese companies from its global equity, bond benchmarks after US blacklisting

  • Hikvision, SMIC among companies to be removed from equity benchmarks beginning December 21
  • Trump administration has blacklisted 35 Chinese companies over ties to Chinese military

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S&P Dow Jones plans to remove securities issued by almost two dozen Chinese companies blacklisted by the US government from its equity and bond benchmarks. Photo: AP
S&P Dow Jones Indices said it would remove 21 Chinese companies from its global stock and bond benchmarks after the Trump administration accused the companies of having ties to the Chinese military and barred US investors from trading or owning their securities.
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The index provider, an arm of S&P Global, said it would remove 10 companies, including surveillance camera maker Hangzhou Hikvision, supercomputer manufacturer Dawning Information (also known as Sugon), and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), from more than four dozen of its equity indices beginning on December 21.

The firm will also remove securities issued by an additional 11 blacklisted companies from its fixed income benchmarks beginning on January 1, it said in a statement late Wednesday.

The latest index reconstitution and rebalancing will force global money managers to adjust their investment allocations while China takes measures to widen the access to its domestic capital markets to foreign investors. Major index compilers have also started to add or increase the weightage of Chinese securities because of their growing business footprint and dominance.
“S&P DJI will continue to monitor for any updates to the list of named entities, further clarifications on the scope of the executive order as it pertains to affiliates, and any other relevant matter,” the company said. “Any further updates released before the US market close on Friday, December 11, 2020, will be evaluated by S&P DJI and, if applicable, implemented in conjunction with the December 21, 2020, rebalancing effective date.”

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There are 2,009 Chinese companies in its S&P Global BMI Index, one of its biggest benchmarks, with more than 12,500 constituent companies and one of the affected indices, with a combined weighting of 5.1 per cent, according to a November 30 company fact sheet.

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