MSCI, a global leading provider of research-based indexes and analytics, has eyes for Vietnamese shares when it added five local shares to its MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Index.

In its semi-annual review released on May 15 (local time), MSCI decided to add 18 shares in the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Index, five of which are Vietnamese shares.

They are Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII), Ho Chi Minh Securities Corp (HCM), The Pan Group (PAN), Van Phu - Invest Investment JSC (VPI) and Vietnam Electrical Equipment JSC (GEX).

Other 13 shares come from Tunisia (5); Morocco, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Oman, Ivory Coast, Slovenia, Tunisia, Romania and Mauritius, each having one share addition.

On the other hand, it removed 15 shares in the May review but no Vietnamese stocks were on the list.

Regarding the MSCI Frontier Market Index, the indexes provider put in eight shares and took out four shares. No Vietnamese shares were added or deleted in this list.

After this review, the MSCI Frontier Markets Index – the underlying index of the MSCI Frontier Markets Index ETF – will increase to 115, 11 of which are Vietnamese shares, accounting for 14.69 per cent of total weights.

They include Vingroup (VIC), Masan Group (MSN), Vietcombank (VCB), steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Sacombank (STB), PV Gas (GAS), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vinamilk (VNM), Bank for Investment and Development of Viet nam (BID) and Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corp (SAB).

All changes will be effective after the close of trading on Friday (June 1). The next review will be announced in mid-August. — VNS