(Yicai Global) March 1 -- Stock markets on the Chinese mainland opened strong this morning after world-leading index provider MSCI unveiled plans to increase the weight of Chinese stocks in its indexes.
 

The Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2,954.40, up 0.46 percent from yesterday's close, while the Shenzhen Component Index gained 0.89 percent to start at 9,111.96. The ChiNext price Index, which tracks growth enterprises in Shenzhen, jumped 1.51 percent higher to 1,558.90 after the plans showed the MSCI will include ChiNext stocks in its benchmarks for the first time.

MSCI said this morning that it had approved a plan to quadruple the weight of Chinese stocks in MSCI indexes to 20 percent by the end of this year, a move that could inject tens of billions more dollars into mainland equity markets.