INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
clouded prospects for the boom-and-bust asset class.
Nearly $730 million flowed back into emerging markets exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in
the past week, according to Lipper, after two straight weeks of outflows that accompanied sharp declines in the stocks and currencies of
developing countries.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index .MSCIEF, which measures stock performance, has rebounded 4 per cent from its early
February low, though it remains down on the year
Another index measuring emerging markets currency performance .MIEM00000CUS was still sharply lower, reflecting the slide in a range of
currencies from Asia to Latin America.
As of Friday, the coronavirus has infected 63,581 people and killed 1,380
Still, investors have grown more hopeful that economic damage will be limited.
Before the outbreak, emerging markets stocks had steadily
climbed since early December as analysts forecast a re-acceleration of global economic growth and the United States and China agreed on a
Chinese equities make up roughly a third of the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Emerging markets ETFs have seen a steady
has added them so that they now make up about 6 per cent of his portfolio
A weaker dollar would likely compel him to boost that position, he said.
Should the currency decline, countries that have borrowed in
dollars would find it easier to service their debt.
Other financial institutions, including BlackRock, JPMorgan and UBS Global Wealth
Management, are also sanguine on the prospects for emerging markets in 2020, even though the asset class has underperformed US stocks for
more than a decade.
ReutersEmerging markets stocks have been more resilient of late in large part because they have languished for so long,
The gap between the Cboe Emerging Markets ETF Volatility Index .VXEEM and the Cboe Volatility Index , seen as an indicator of investor risk
aversion, was 3.6 points on Friday afternoon
That compares with a 7.25-point gap in May 2019, when trade tensions between the United States and China were near their peak.
ReutersThe
economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak in unknown
the 6 per cent annual growth the Chinese government previously estimated.
But some investors expect the shortfall in growth to be largely
said Jim Besaw, chief investment officer at GenTrust
