9% dip in India index is due to incorrect security pricing, MSCI claims

Despite one per cent fall in Nifty 50 index and other key benchmark indices on Dalal Street, MSCI Indian index fell to the tune of 9 per cent during mid-session of Friday deals, that sparked attention of market observers and investors. However, the global index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International or MSCI claimed that the 9 per cent dip in India index was due to the incorrect security pricing during stock market's opening. MSCI claimed technical glitch behind this incorrect pricing of the security while replying to an e-mail query of Bloomberg News.

“Due to a technical issue, the opening price of a security in the MSCI India Index was incorrect,” Melanie Blanco, head of external communications — Americas replied to the emailed sent by Bloomberg News. However, the MSCI official went on to add that “The price has since been corrected.”

Blanco went on to add that response to the Bloomberg News email has been written without evaluating the impact of incorrect security pricing and the MSCI is evaluating the impact of this incorrect pricing with respect to its real-time indices.

Like other Indian benchmark indices, MSCI India Index opened lower and went on to extend its losses by mid-session during Friday deals. However, for surprise to market investors and market observer, MSCI India Index went on to lose near 9 per cent by noon while other key benchmark indices like nifty 50, Sensex and Bank Nifty were down by around one per cent only. MSCI Emerging Markets also extended its losses at the same time.

What is MSCI

For information to the readers, MSCI is known for its stock indices, which keeps an eye on various regional markets and stock categories like small-cap, mid-cap, large-cap etc. They track performance of the stocks listed at various MSCI indices, which acts as base for the exchange traded funds (ETFs). So, MSCI indices work as benchmark for Asset Management Companies (AMCs).