U.S. finance company Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) kept Argentina\u2019s classification as a standalone market, the lowest tier, in its annual report issued on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some analysts expected the country to be reclassified to a \u201cfrontier\u201d or \u201cemerging\u201d market, which would have allowed up to US$3 billion of investments to enter the country.<\/p>\n
The MSCI Argentina index measures the performance of the large and mid-cap segment of the Argentine stock market. With 18 stocks, it represents approximately 85% of the weighted universe of Argentine stocks.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, before the MSCI report was published, Argentine bank shares rose by more than 8% on Wall Street as the markets eagerly anticipated the finance company\u2019s definition. However, once the news became known on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Argentina\u2019s Economy Minister told the Herald, \u201cthere were no expectations to improve the classification\u201d.<\/p>\n
Argentina was reclassified as a standalone market by MSCI in November 2021 due to persistent market accessibility issues, specifically capital controls. Before that, the country was considered an emerging market.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear that the conditions were not right, and rumors of this kind are damaging to the market,\u201d financial analyst Christian Buteler said in a post on X.<\/p>\n
Sebasti\u00e1n Maril, chief executive of the Latam Advisors consultancy, said that \u201cwith few exceptions, Argentina could only be included in the list in June 2026 to be reclassified to Frontier or Emerging in June 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n