Business
Equity Funds Inflows Ups By 300%
Emerging market equity funds inflows tripled recently as the outlook improved for developing-nation exporters, EPER Global said. The funds attracted $1.7 billion in the week ended December 23 from $571.4 million in the previous week, EPFR said in a statement. That added to a recorded $80.3 billion of investments in developing nation stock funds so far this year, compared with outflows of $48 billion in the same period in 2008, EPFR said. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index has rallied 73 per cent this year, set for its best annual performance Developing nations were the 10 best performing market as stimulus measures from China to Brazil helped bolster a recovery in economic growth. The gauge was little changed recently at 981.48. This year’s inflows are “way off the charts”, Brad Durham, Managing Director at the Cambridge Massachusetts-based EPFR, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. There will be some vulnerability in the first part of the year, just given that emerging market indices have performed so strongly. The Shanghai composite index added 0.7 per cent to a two-week high, and the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index advanced for a fourth day, its longest winning streak in seven weeks. Brazilian stocks gained for a fourth day, led by consumer companies and banks, as the nation’s whole sale prices declined more than analyst predicted and leading expanded. Oil producing nations also gained among emerging market stocks, with Abu Ahabi’s ADX General Index advancing 0.5 per cent the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share index rising 0.7 per cent and Oman’s MSM 30 Index climbing 1.6 per cent. Russia’s Micex Index gained 0.4 per cent.