The MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) indices are the most widely used equity benchmarks for institutional investors. They are available as both price and total return indices. The total return indices are calculated with both gross and net dividends. The weighting of the securities included is always based on market capitalisation. If nothing more specific is indicated, the MSCI indices always refer to large and mid cap stocks (standard index) and thus cover approx. 85% of the capitalisation of the respective market. The investable market indices also include small caps and cover 99% of the market capitalisation. The most important MSCI indices are the following:

- MSCI World: Index that tracks the performance of companies in industrialised countries.
— MSCI EM: Index covering all emerging markets (EM = emerging markets).
— MSCI ACWI: Index that includes both industrialised and emerging countries (ACWI = All Countries World Index).
— MSCI Country: Index for a specific country. MSCI offers indices for all industrialised and emerging countries. Indices are also offered for larger regions, e.g. “Euro zone”.
— MSCI World ex CH: Index of industrialised countries excluding Switzerland. The same index construction is available for all other industrialised countries as well as for regions.