There is a group of investors who don’t feel comfortable unless there’s a benchmark to use. So clearly there’s a need for indices that measure movements in FX. And the announcement this week of indices from FTSE Group and MSCI should at least put the final nail in the coffin of that old story that FX is an asset class in its own right.
FTSE has joined with Record to create what it describes as a new range of innovative currency forward rate bias (FRB) indices to provide investors with a passively managed and transparent benchmark for currency FRB returns, used for portfolio construction, index-tracking and benchmarking.
Meanwhile, MSCI says its FX Hedge Indices can be calculated for any regional or composite index within the MSCI Global Investable Markets Index family. The following flagship indices are available in USD and EUR at launch:
- MSCI All Country World (ACWI) FX Hedge Index
- MSCI World FX Hedge Index
- MSCI EAFE FX Hedge Index
- MSCI Emerging Markets FX Hedge Index
- MSCI Europe FX Hedge Index
- MSCI Pacific FX Hedge Index
The indices are available on request from MSCI.