INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A handful of domestic stocks could see a churn to the tune of $1.6 billion (Rs 13,000 crore) on account of semi-annual index rebalancing
(SAIR) of the MSCI India index
The rebalancing is scheduled to take place on Friday and the changes will come into effect after the close of trade on November 30
According to analyst Brian Freitas of Periscope Analytics, who publishes on Smartkarma, about seven stocks are in the reckoning to get added
to the index, which is tracked by funds with assets of around Rs 1 trillion
These include Varun Beverages, Tube Investments and Indian Hotels
Each of these stocks could see buying worth more than $200 million (more than Rs 1,600 crore) from passive trackers
Meanwhile, Indraprastha Gas Limited and Biocon are seen as potential exclusions and these two stocks could see selling to the tune of $100
million (about Rs 800 crore)
Typically, the rebalancing of the MSCI India index tends to have a bearing on the stock prices of potential inclusion and exclusion
This is true this time around as well
Furthermore, the foreign portfolio investor (FPI) shareholding has edged higher on expectations of inclusion in the MSCI India index
This indicates that savvy investors have already built pre-positions on these counters.
