Morgan Stanley Capital International announced Wednesday that it has added three large- and mid-cap South Korean stocks -- SK Biopharmaceuticals, SK Global Chemical and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction -- to its global and regional equity index, as part of November rebalancing.

As anticipated by market watchers, the Geneva-based MSCI added the three, but didn’t invite the South Korean novel drugs developer Hanmi Science to the club.

It also removed Amorepacific preferred, BNK Financial Group and Posco International from the list. On contrary to local analysts’ expectations, firms such as Korea Gas Corporation, Ottogi and Lotte remained on the index.

MSCI Korea Index is one of the MSCI Global Standard Indexes, along with MSCI ACWI Index, MSCI Emerging Markets and more. It is composed of 107 constituents, which covers 85 percent of the Korean equity universe. The index’s market cap came to about $774.69 billion as of end-October.

While the changes will take effect Dec. 1, more passive investor influx in the newly enrolled firms’ stocks is expected in a short term period, according to market watchers.

“SK Biopharmaceuticals’ passive investing influx is projected to stand at 168.4 billion won ($151.43 million), while SK Global Chemical and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction will reach 218.2 billion won and 191.8 billion won, respectively,” said Kang Song-cheol, an analyst at Shinhan Investment.

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction advanced 400 won, or 2.51 percent, to 16,350 won, at the closing bell. SK Biopharmaceuticals and SK Global Chemical closed at 0.59 percent and 6.36 percent lower from the previous session to 168,500 won and 427,500 won, respectively.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)