Emerging market investors might count themselves lucky. As China’s stock market boom turns to bust, MSCI’s decision not to include mainland shares in its global EM index looks increasingly merciful.
EM fund managers have plenty of bad news to contend with already. Brazil and Russia are in recession, growth is sliding everywhere from Indonesia to Turkey to Peru, while the US Federal Reserve is inching closer to a rate rise. Throw in the rout in global commodities, which many developing nations dig up and export, and it is the closest thing in years to a perfect storm.
But how much do these well-worn EM worries really matter to fund managers benchmarked to MSCI indices? The answer is perhaps not so much.