Moneyspider in the News

Emerging markets booming

Thisismoney.co.uk 

Private investors have ploughed almost £2.5bn into emerging markets funds over the past three weeks as confidence in developed regions languishes. 

Research fund analyst Moneyspider.com has shown that even the best performing funds from the developed world have been unable to keep pace with the returns that investors have achieved over the past five years from emerging markets funds. 

Over the past few months as global stock markets have felt the pinch as a result of the ongoing 'credit crunch' emerging markets have remained resilient. 

Tony Ahearne of Moneyspider says: 'Emerging markets have come a long way since their inherent difficulties in the 1990s. Today improved political stability in many hitherto no go parts of the world combined with rising exports and a higher degree of economical autonomy has manifested themselves in the strong performances of the funds.'  

'Earnings growth expectations for emerging markets have been moving up while those in many developed markets have been moving down. It would appear that investors may be focusing less on risk and more on growth.' 

According to Moneyspider, Gartmore China Opportunities, the biggest and longest running of the Greater China funds, is top of the emerging markets sector. Long running investors in the fund will have enjoyed spectacular returns over the past years - a £5,000 investment will have produced an exceptional gain of nearly £27,000, a 537% rise. 

A £5,000 investment in Jupiter Emerging European Opportunities, which primarily invests in Russia, Turkey and Poland, has been consistently outperforming the emerging markets sector benchmark and has produced similarly phenomenal growth of £24,000 over the past five years. 

On the other hand the best performing Europe (ex-UK) fund is Artemis European Growth, which has seen growth over the same five year period of well below £12,000 on the same £5,000 investment: less than half of either the Gartmore or Jupiter funds. 

In addition the top ranking fund in the North American sector over the past five years, Martin Currie North America, has barely produced a £4,000 profit over the period. 

'These findings really show that it pays off to keep a close eye on the performance and ratings of funds in different sectors and not just stick religiously to areas of the world you are familiar with,' adds Ahearne.