This weekly newsletter pulls together summaries of the top ten most-read Insights across Event-Driven and Index Rebalance on Smartkarma.
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1. How Has the Index Rebalance Strategy Performed in 2024?
- It has been a decent year for the index rebalance strategy, though there have been some big hiccups along the way.
- Forecasting the index changes and impacts has been important, but timing (especially momentum/value regime changes) and hedge selection have also been major factors affecting the returns of the strategy.
- As passive AUM continues to increase, we expect focus on the strategy to continue in 2025 with market players taking different approaches to trading the potential and announced index changes.
2. TIP Customized Taiwan Select High Dividend Index Rebalance: US$3.2bn Trade with BIG Impact
- There are 8 changes a side for the TIP Customized Taiwan Select High Dividend Index in December. The TIP Taiwan Select High Dividend ETF (00919TW) has an AUM of US$9.3bn.
- Estimated one-way turnover is 17.2% and that will result in a round-trip trade of US$3.2bn. All adds and deletes have over 5x ADV to trade from passive trackers.
- The rebalance will be implemented over 8 trading days and the ETF started trading some stocks late last week and the rest from 17 December.
3. HSCI Index Rebalance Preview and Stock Connect: Potential Changes in March 2025
- We see 32 potential and close adds and 44 potential and close deletes for the Hang Seng Composite Index in March. Some of the stocks are close on market cap/liquidity.
- We expect 29 stocks to be added to Southbound Stock Connect following the rebalance while 31 stocks could be deleted from the trading link and become Sell-only.
- There are stocks that have a very high percentage of holdings via Stock Connect and there could be some unwinding prior to the stocks becoming Sell-only.
4. PCOMP Index Rebalance Preview: Two Changes Likely in February
- The review period for the February rebalance of the Philippines Stock Exchange PSEi Index (PCOMP INDEX) ends in two weeks.
- There could be two changes for the index with passive trackers needing to trade between 23-64x ADV in the stocks.
- The passive buying is a lot larger than the passive selling, there will be funding outflows for the other index constituents; some stocks will have over 1x ADV to trade.
5. MV Global Junior Gold Miners Index Rebalance: Big Flow in Some Stocks
- No constituent changes for the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ US) in December. But there are a lot of float and capping changes.
- Estimated one-way turnover is 2.6% resulting in a round-trip trade of US$269m. There are 8 stocks with over 1x ADV to trade from passive trackers.
- Stocks with the largest flows are Evolution Mining, Pan American Silver, Westgold Resources, B2Gold, Alamos Gold, Harmony Gold Mining, Eldorado Gold, K92 Mining, IAMGOLD, Endeavour Silver and Emerald Resources.
6. Sony To Buy 7+% Stake in Kadokawa (9468 JP) For ¥50bn, Ending Near-Term Hopes of Takeover
- Today, Kadokawa (9468 JP) announced it would sell ¥50bn of shares to Sony (6758 JP) in a 3rd Party Allotment to cement a Strategic/Capital Alliance. Sony will own 10% at ¥4,146/share.
- 40% of proceeds is to “create and develop new IP”, 60% is to “enhance global IP distribution”; both over 5yrs. Given ¥108bn of net cash/securities, this is a garbage reason.
- Kadokawa shares have gained 44% in a month since Reuters carried an “Exclusive” article saying Sony was in talks to acquire Kadokawa. This is defensive entrenchment. The result will disappoint.
7. A Passive Flow Trading Event that Sparked Wild Price Action in Korea Is Happening Again
- This event drew significant attention, causing unusual price action. From Sept 20 to Nov 29, corrections in the deletions far outpaced the KOSPI, with the trend holding across key checkpoints.
- We’re watching 4 stocks: Kumho Petro, Lotte Chemical, Posco DX, and EcoPro Materials. SK Bioscience and Enchem are close, with small price moves likely pushing them out.
- Based on past rebalancing patterns, proactive positions on these names could trigger strong price action. All except Enchem have listed futures and solid volume, making trading conditions favorable.
8. KRX Value-Up Index Rebalance Results and Estimated Passive Impact
- KRX updated the Value-Up Index with five new names: KB Financial, Hana Financial, KT Corp, SK Telecom, and Hyundai Mobis, with Mobis replacing JB Financial, surprising the market.
- This is the first rebalancing, packed into one day, so expect notable price action. Reverse moves could also follow Thursday as pre-positioned trades unwind, so monitor price action closely.
- Even after Thursday’s rebalancing, half of the funds, especially from the National Pension Service, will flow into high-yield stocks, likely driving significant price moves through early next year.
9. 7&I (3382 JP) – Share Price Dipping Deeper Means Dipping Toes Deeper
- Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP) shares are in a lull here. Winter doldrums without news as the Ito consortium gets its ducks in a row and 7&i sells York.
- Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD CN) is waiting patiently. They have the ability to wait, and to fund, and pay up.
- An article/show is causing a dip today on top of last week’s weakness. This is a dip to buy.
10. SET50 Index Rebalance: Four Changes; Cal Comp🚀
- There will be 4 changes for the Stock Exchange of Thailand SET 50 Index (SET50 INDEX) at the close on 30 December.
- All changes are in line with our forecasts and there appears to be positioning in all the stocks.
- Cal Comp Electronics Thailand (CCET TB) will have the largest passive buying a percentage of free float and could be the stock to watch.
