Some share price adjustments can be expected due to changes in the calculation of the Morgan Stanley Capital International Index (MSCI). From the end of the month, MSCI will start to replace the current full market capitalisation system for calculating index weightings with free-float (shares available for trading) adjusted weightings. Weightings in the index will be adjusted downwards to reflect shares held by insiders, governments and other strategic investors.
The changes follow similar adjustments by the Dow Jones Stoxx and the FTSE International, and are relevant to investors who use the MSCI as a benchmark to determine portfolio weightings.
Commerzbank expects a number of biotech companies to come into the index for the first time, including Genentech, Serono, Medimmune, Millennium Biogen and Immunex. But it expects selling pressure on Zeltia, Qiagen and Amgen as their weightings are reduced.
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