FTSE Russell to shed China Unicom, SMIC, and Nanjing Panda

FTSE Russell will delete a further three firms from its global equity indexes after guidance on an executive order by outgoing President Donald Trump barring U.S. investments in some Chinese companies, a hardening of his stance against Beijing, Reuters reports.

China United Network Communications, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Nanjing Panda Electronics will be deleted from FTSE Russell’s FTSE Global Equity Index Series as well as the FTSE Global China A Inclusion Indexes from Thursday.

FTSE Russell said on Monday it will also remove SMIC, China’s top microchip maker, from its FTSE China 50 Index and video security firm Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology from its FTSE China A50 index having removed it from the FTSE Global Equity Index Series last month.

Other global index providers including the New York Stock Exchange, MSCI, S&P Dow Jones Indices and Nasdaq have also removed firms from their benchmarks.