“The new index gives the smaller countries with high economic growth potential a lot more visibility and accessibility for investors,” says Raina Oberoi, vice president of MSCI’s equity applied research group.
MSCI’s criteria for emerging markets are based on economic development, size, liquidity and market accessibility.
Guggenheim says the 834 constituents in the MSCI Emerging Markets Equal Country Weighted Index cover about 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.