Martin Gilbert: The real significance of MSCI's inclusion of China A-shares

Last Friday saw a number of China's A-shares included in MSCI's global and regional indices for the first time, writes Martin Gilbert, co-chief executive of Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Their inclusion has been a long time coming and it is the talk of the industry at the moment. This isn't surprising. As many as 230 of the yuan-quoted shares of mainland Chinese companies will be included in the MSCI's global and regional indices. This is a drop in the ocean - the entire A-share market comprises 3,500 stocks and is worth some $8.5trn - but it is a sign of things to come. Given the size of the A-shares market, this initial move by the MSCI portends something more significant in the future.  China's equity market overall is going to be increasingly hard for internationa...