On March 1st, MSCI, an international index compilation company, announced that it would seek advice on how to treat Russian stock market in MSCI index in view of relevant developments. MSCI said that the MSCI Russia index may be separated from the emerging market index and reclassified as an independent market.

Geographically, on February 28th, local time, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held the first round of negotiations in Belarus. After the negotiations, both sides indicated that they would return to China for consultations to prepare for the next round of negotiations.

Analysts believe that it is very difficult to realize this negotiation, and the attitudes of both sides are relatively restrained and peaceful after the negotiation. At the same time, it should also be noted that even if Russia and Ukraine are willing to promote the peace process, given the huge differences between the two sides on many important issues at present, the road to crisis resolution will be long and difficult.

MSCI seeks advice on Russian stock market

On March 1st, Beijing time, MSCI, an international index compilation company, announced in official website that it would seek advice on how to treat Russian stock market in MSCI index.

MSCI said that it is continuously paying close attention to the accessibility and investability of Russian stock market to international institutional investors. In view of recent negative developments, including western sanctions against individual companies, restrictions on the sale of securities on the Moscow Stock Exchange, exclusion of some Russian banks from SWIFT system, and weakening of the convertibility of Russian ruble, MSCI seeks the opinions of market participants on how to treat Russian stock market appropriately in the index.

According to MSCI, possible measures include separating MSCI Russia Index from emerging market index and reclassifying it as an independent market. After reviewing the feedback from market participants, MSCI will issue a further notice before the end of this week.

According to the data, MSCI is a company specializing in the compilation of global stock indexes and related investment analysis. The MSCI index series launched by MSCI is an important reference benchmark for measuring the performance of capital markets in various countries, and is widely used in the fields of performance evaluation benchmark, related product development, portfolio construction, investment risk management, regulatory report making and so on.

In MSCI's index product series, regional index is the most widely used category by global investors. Among them, MSCI Global Index, MSCI Developed Markets Index and MSCI Emerging Markets Index are the three most well-known indexes in the world.

According to the calculation of Yuekai Securities, as of the end of January 2022, 26 stocks in the Russian market were included in MSCI Emerging Markets Index, with a total market value of 255.4 billion US dollars, accounting for 3.3%. Only by calculating the fund size ($1.8 trillion) that tracks MSCI emerging markets index, the market value of foreign holdings corresponding to Russian stock market is nearly $60 billion.

Russia's first round of talks with Ukraine failed

According to Xinhua News Agency, on February 28th, local time, the Russian delegation and the Ukrainian delegation held the first round of negotiations in Gomel, Belarus. The negotiations lasted for five hours, but no agreement was reached. After the negotiations, both sides indicated that they would return to China for consultations to prepare for the next round of negotiations.

Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian delegation and adviser to the President's Office, said that the main purpose of the first round of negotiations was to discuss issues such as ceasefire in Uzbekistan. He later said on social media that the negotiations were very difficult, but there was no 'mandatory ultimatum'.

According to a report by Tass news agency on February 28th, May kinski, head of the Russian delegation and assistant to the president, told the media after the negotiation that representatives of both sides discussed all the topics on the agenda in detail and found some topics on which both sides expected to reach an agreement. He also revealed that the next round of negotiations will be held in the border area between Belarus and Poland in the near future, and both sides have reached a certain consensus on this.

Although the contradiction between Russia and Ukraine is complicated and difficult to solve, the hope of achieving peace through dialogue still exists. Slutsky, the Russian negotiator and chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the State Duma, said that both sides have found areas where progress can be made in the negotiations.

Bogdan Bez Palicot, a member of the Russian Federation's Ethnic Relations Committee, believes that on humanitarian issues, the two sides may be able to reach some consensus, such as arranging civilians to leave the city and exchanging prisoners with each other.

Alexander gusev, director of the Russian Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, believes that this negotiation is 'just the beginning'. Although the negotiation process will be extremely difficult, it will continue.