MSCI Index funds to debut on Tadawul today

The second and final tranche of Saudi Arabia’s inclusion on MSCI Emerging Markets Index funds will be implemented today, Tuesday, August 27, 2019 on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), with all transactions executed at 50 percent of the Saudi market capitalization on the index.

Tadawul is expected to see nearly SAR 18.75 billion in passive inflows during the phase.

The Kingdom’s stock exchange said it extended the closing auction session to 20 minutes (instead of 10 minutes) today. The extension came ahead of the second stage of inclusion in MSCI Emerging Markets Index tomorrow, August 28, 2019, based on closing prices on August 27.

The inclusion will increase the weight of Saudi Arabian securities from 1.45 percent to 2.83 percent in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

The first phase of Saudi Arabia’s inclusion on MSCI Emerging Markets Index officially kicked off in May, following the listing of 30 Saudi securities as of the close on May 28.

In 2015, MSCI launched two Saudi standalone indexes for stocks in the Kingdom. The first index includes 30 large companies, while the other includes 41 small capital firms.