LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – JPMorgan has retained dollar-denominated debt issued by Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA in a key emerging market bond index in its monthly rebalancing, two fund managers said on Friday.

“They kept them in, there are no changes on PDVSA, and we are very happy about that,” said one asset manager who declined to be named. “(A change) would have come too quick, the situation is still evolving.”

Investors have been concerned that JPMorgan could exclude PDVSA from the EMBI Global benchmarks of sovereign and sub-sovereign emerging hard-currency debt after Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on the firm on Monday.

JPMorgan communicates any changes of index constituents to its clients on the last trading day of the month, according to fund managers. JPMorgan did not immediately comment. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker, editing by Sujata Rao)