WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW – EMERGING MARKETS
MSCI to Boost China Stocks Weighting as Bull Market Builds
MSCI Inc. will expand the weighting of China-listed shares in benchmark indexes tracked by global investors, a decision that could see billions of dollars flow into one of the world’s most volatile major stock markets.
The increase will occur in three steps this year beginning in May, with the weighting of Chinese A shares ultimately rising to 3.3 percent of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index in November from 0.72 percent, the company said in a statement. Shares listed on the tech-heavy ChiNext board will join its indexes for the first time.
Stock of the Week
A-Living Services Co., Ltd. provides property management services under the Agile Property Management and Greenland Property Services brand focusing on mid- to high-end properties in the People’s Republic of China. Founded in 1993, and headed by CEO , the company size now stands at 12.19k people and has a market cap of HK$17b, putting it in the mid-cap stocks category. Volatility in the market is hardly detrimental to the financial health and business operations of a large, well-established company. Although some monetary and fiscal policy changes may impact some corporate financing decisions and strategy, what we’ve learnt over time is that these companies tend to adapt. And having a strong balance sheet and a history of proven success aids in this adaptability.
The case for A-Living Services: Consider These Factors, Then Buy A-Living Services Co., Ltd. (HKG:3319)
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW – SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENTS
Climate change ‘one of the most pressing concerns’ investors face
Climate change is “one of the most pressing concerns” currently facing investors and they should seek deeper dialogue with companies in order to strengthen their climate risk data and strategies. That is the conclusion of a new paper from investment giant UBS Asset Management, published yesterday, which offers investors an introductory “primer” on climate risks, arguing that climate change is both the most urgent of all environmental social governance (ESG) factors and the issue “which raises the greatest degree of uncertainty”.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW – AGRICULTURE INVESTMENTS
New technology could fight off droughts
External factors can limit crop growth and harvest yields for farmers.
Now, a team led by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created a genetic tool that uses nanoparticles to deliver genes into the chloroplasts of plant cells, engineering plants to survive droughts and resist fungal infections.The new technique offers plant biologists an alternative method to the current complex, time-consuming process used to genetically modify plants. “This is an important first step toward chloroplast transformation,” Nam-Hai Chua, the deputy chair of the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory at the National University of Singapore and a professor emeritus at Rockefeller University, said in a statement. “This technique can be used for rapid screening of candidate genes for chloroplast expression in a wide variety of crop plants.”
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW – SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
Scientists at Roslin Institute alter DNA to produce ‘disease resistant’ pigs
Boffins at University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute – a core holding of Milltrust’s British Innovation Fund – and where scientists famously created Dolly the Sheep – have used the technology to produce pigs that are resistant to disease. Now they want to test attitudes towards gene editing in livestock and find out whether people would eat meat from an animal that has had its DNA altered. Their responses will be used to “inform research”, the Institute says. It is hoped the technological advance could be used to help better shield livestock in developing nations from disease and changed to their natural environment. Gene editing involves altering some of the individual “letters” that make up an animal’s genetic code.
