Indonesia will remove another 300 stocks with highly concentrated ownership from its benchmark index.

To address MSCI Inc.'s dissatisfaction with the lack of liquidity and opaque ownership in Indonesia's stock market, the Indonesia Stock Exchange has significantly expanded its screening of stocks with highly concentrated shareholding, increasing the number to more than four times the original figure. The Indonesia Stock Exchange said it has identified another 300 such stocks, which, together with the 83 stocks already placed on the exclusion list, will all be excluded from the relevant indices. The exchange said the newly added stocks account for about 6% of the benchmark index's total market capitalization but did not disclose the specific list. The Southeast Asian country is accelerating the rollout of regulatory measures in response to a warning issued by MSCI last month. MSCI previously noted that Indonesia could face the risk of a two-step downgrade from its emerging-market status due to investor concerns over suspected coordinated trading and opaque ownership. Although the Indonesia Stock Exchange and regulators have tightened rules in recent months since the first related complaints emerged in January this year, the index provider said these measures are still insufficient and stressed the need for further enforcement action.