MSCI will drop three Chinese state-owned telecoms companies from closely followed stock benchmarks as it rushes to comply with a Trump administration executive order barring investment in companies with alleged links to China’s military.
Shares of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom traded in Hong Kong will be removed from many of the company’s indices, including the MSCI China All Shares and All Country World benchmarks, at the close of trading on Friday. That is the last full trading day before the executive order signed in November by US president Donald Trump goes into effect on January 11.
Shares in China Unicom fell as much as 11 per cent shortly after trading opened in Hong Kong on Friday, while those of China Mobile and China Telecom both dropped up to 10 per cent.