Intercontinental Exchange has launched futures on an additional 10 MSCI Indices.Four of the MSCI Indices help market participants better understand the opportunities and risks associated with climate change and transitioning to a low carbon economy. These new carbon- and climate-focused index futures capture exposure to large and mid-cap securities across developed countries and allow investors to holistically integrate climate and carbon risk considerations into their investment process. The new carbon- and climate-focused MSCI Index futures include:
MSCI World Low Carbon Leaders NTR Index Future (contract symbol WLC)
MSCI World Low Carbon Target NTR Index Future (contract symbol WLT)
MSCI Europe Climate Change NTR Index Future (contract symbol EU1)
MSCI World Climate Change NTR Index Future (contract symbol WOW)
This launch further expands ICE’s offering of MSCI ESG Futures, which comprises six MSCI ESG Leaders Futures and the MSCI USA Climate Change Futures.
ICE is also listing futures on a new index developed by MSCI in conjunction with ICE and market participants, the MSCI China Technology DR and P-Chip NTR Index Futures (contract symbol CHT). The index aims to track the performance of a set of Chinese companies represented by Depository Receipts and P Chips that generate revenue from technology-related activities.
ICE is also listing futures on an additional four MSCI country-specific indices, which allow market participants to efficiently hedge or gain exposure to indices that capture large and mid-cap companies in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong, and one regional index, the MSCI Kokusai GTR Index, denominated in Japanese Yen, also known as the MSCI World ex Japan Index. The new MSCI Futures contracts are listed below:
MSCI Kokusai GTR Index (contract symbol KKS)
MSCI Australia NTR Index (contract symbol AS7)
MSCI Malaysia NTR Index (contract symbol MYY)
MSCI Thailand NTR Index (contract symbol THG)
MSCI Hong Kong NTR Index (contract symbol HKX)
ICE recently launched futures on the MSCI Emerging Markets ex China NTR Index, which began trading on November 23, 2020, and allows market participants to gain exposure in 25 of the 26 Emerging Markets countries excluding China in a single, effective instrument.
George Harrington, Global Head of Futures and Options Licensing at MSCI, said: “As the world’s largest provider of ESG indexes, we have witnessed fast adoption of climate indexes over the past 18 months as institutional investors look to position themselves for transition to a low-carbon economy. We are pleased to expand our relationship with ICE as investors around the world look to capture climate change risks and opportunities across the investment process.”
“ICE is the leading venue for MSCI Index Futures and lists more than 100 futures contracts,” says Caterina Caramaschi, Global Head of Equity Derivatives at ICE. “ICE remains committed to providing market participants with tools to benchmark and effectively manage equity risk across various geographic-specific and ESG-related index futures.”
