Introduction

The MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Net Total Return Index (“MSCI AxJ”) is a well-established benchmark representing Asia regional (excluding Japan) equity market performance.  The MSCI AxJ is complied by MSCI Limited (“MSCI”) and was launched in January 2001.  It currently comprises securities in two Developed Markets (Hong Kong and Singapore) and nine Emerging Markets (Mainland China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand).  With 646 constituent stocks, it covers approximately 85% of the freefloat-adjusted market capitalisation in each country and the total freefloat-adjusted index market capitalisation was USD 4,748 Bn as of 30 March 2018.  The index is calculated in a net total return form (i.e. reinvestment of net dividend payout into the index portfolio).

Uses of MSCI AxJ Futures

The introduction of the MSCI AxJ Futures contract aims to meet the trading and hedging needs of investors who have exposure to large and mid-cap companies in developed and emerging Asian countries (ex-Japan) in a cost effective manner.  Asset managers and banks can make use of MSCI AxJ Futures for cash equitisation and manage market, settlement and liquidity risks without cross zone trading issue. 

The constituent list and vendor codes can be found in MSCI websites https://www.msci.com/constituents and https://www.msci.com/ticker-codes respectively.