Traders are seen at the Stock Exchange in Buenos Aires. | AFP/RONALDO SCHEMIDT Argentine stocks were cut from emerging market status by index provider MSCI Inc on the country’s continued capital controls. The downgrade to “standalone” status, which comes just three years after the index provider raised the country’s shares from frontier to emerging-market status, was prompted by Argentina’s ongoing capital controls, according to a statement published Thursday evening. The world’s largest index provider had signaled last year that Argentina could lose its standing if controls remained or increased. “Since September 2019, international institutional investors have been subject to the imposition of capital controls in the Argentina equity market,” said Craig Feldman, global head of index management research and member of the MSCI Index Policy Committee, in the statement. “The prolonged severity of capital controls with no resolution is not in line with the Market Accessibility criteria of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.”