MSCI Rule Shift May Spur $2 Billion Exit From Indonesian Stocks

Low free float has already become a flash point in Indonesia, where many of the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index’s biggest members are thinly traded stocks controlled by a handful of wealthy individuals. Investors argue these volatile stocks distort the index, which masks true market performance and heightens the risk of manipulation.In the big business of index compilations, free float is a relatively obscure but crucial metric. Benchmark providers like MSCI and FTSE Russell rely on it to measure how easi ...