Evergrande to be removed from Hang Seng China Enterprises Index

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Embattled developer China Evergrande Group will be removed from Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, the benchmark provider said on Friday following its regular quarterly review.

The Hang Seng Indexes Company does not typically give reasons for changes to its indexes, and did not in Friday’s statement.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index is designed to reflect the performance of mainland Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong, and includes the top 50 eligible stocks by a measure of their market value.

Evergrande’s shares have fallen over 80% year to date.

Separately, Hang Seng Indexes said they had added technology firms JD.com and Netease to the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Hang Seng Indexes is trying to include more securities in the benchmark to make it more reflective of the companies listed in Hong Kong.

($1 = 7.7917 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Alun John and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Mark Potter)