Riyadh - Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s and Argentina’s stock exchanges are forecast to expand their assets by more than a combined $600 billion on the back of the widely-anticipated decision by the MSCI to promote both to emerging markets (EM) status.

The upgrade decision will be announced later on Wednesday after 4:30 pm New York time, Bloomberg reported.

“Both Saudi Arabia and Argentina are stories of reforms,” noted Julian Mayo, money manager at Fiera Capital UK Ltd.

“On whether they’ll continue on that path, my answer is a cautious yes. The MSCI decision will be a guide to the investment opportunity, but to investors, the fundamentals of these economies and businesses are more important,” Mayo told the news agency.

The expected upgrade to the kingdom’s market has already had a positive impact on the bourse, which was able to attract large global investments. On the other hand, Argentina’s economy appears to be faltering with a shrinking economy, ailing currency, and surging inflation.

“Among many factors, the index provider’s demands for market openness and regulation and the process by which it satisfies itself that policy changes won’t be rolled back,” Andrew Brudenell, portfolio manager at Ashmore Group Plc stated.

Three years ago, Saudi Arabia opened its market for the first time to foreign investors.

So far in 2018, the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) has been seen as “the world’s second-best performer,” according to Bloomberg.

Morgan Stanley previously said that upgrading Argentina bourse may attract around $3.8 billion in inflows.