In September, FTSE Group, the indexing unit of the London Stock Exchange, demoted Morocco to frontier status from the secondary emerging markets classification, saying at the time the demotion was the result of “the continued decline in broad market liquidity below the level sufficient to support sizeable global investment.” [FTSE Demotes Argentina, Morocco]
S&P Dow Jones also said it will continue to classify Egypt as an emerging market. Various index providers have noted the country is a candidate for the frontier demotion, but thus far, only Russell Investments has made an announcement to that effect. [Egypt ETFs in Focus on Russell Demotion]
“No changes are being made to the treatment of Chinese A-shares or Russian securities within S&P Dow Jones Indices global benchmark indices. All of these markets continue to be monitored closely for any future changes,” said the index provider.
Earlier this year, S&P initiated a client survey regarding the possibility of removing Russian stocks from its various international and emerging markets benchmarks. The index provider ultimately decided not to make those changes.
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post.