Emerging markets are bouncing back

The MSCI Emerging Markets index plunged by 33% between 1 January and 23 March as economies locked down. But it has since rallied by 68%.

South Korea
Should South Korea be classed as an emerging market at all?
(Image credit: © iStockphoto)

Investors in emerging markets are finishing the year on a profitable note, but few would have predicted that back in March. The MSCI Emerging Markets index plunged by a stomach-churning 33% between 1 January and 23 March as economies locked down in response to Covid-19. That was then followed by a 68% rally, leaving the index up by 13% for the year as of mid-December, virtually the same as the average gain for all world markets. Emerging market shares are now trading at the same level as they were in January 2018 in US dollar terms. The rest of that year was a washout, but gains over the last two years have finally erased the losses of 2018.

There were significant differences in performance between emerging markets, a capacious and unwieldy category that includes everything from kleptocratic commodity exporters to Asian manufacturing tigers. Latin America disappointed, with both Brazil’s Ibovespa and Mexico’s IPC indices essentially flat over the year. Chile’s IPSA index is down 15% in a year that saw voters approve plans to re-write the constitution.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.