Russell Emerging Markets Index Enjoys 4.5% Gain This Year

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Russell Emerging Markets Index Enjoys 4.5% Gain This Year

The Russell Emerging Markets Index has risen by nearly five percentage points this year, according to a new report.

Russell Investments, Seattle, published this finding in a summary of results from a survey of Russell Emerging Market Index Returns.

The index includes the year-to-date investment returns of 22 emerging market countries.

As of July 9, the Emerging Markets Index has yielded a year-to-date performance +4.7%. This compares with negative (-1.3%) return for the for the Russell Frontier Index for the same time period. The latter includes YTD returns of 14 countries.

Notable countries in the Russell Emerging Markets Index for year-to-date performance as of July 9th include Egypt (+32.7%), Turkey (+28.8%) and the Philippines (+27.1%) on the upside, and Brazil (-5.1%) and Portugal (-14.1%) on the downside.

Notable countries in the Russell Frontier Index for year-to-date performance as of July 9th include Kenya (+30.8%), Pakistan (+22.6%) and Vietnam (+20.0%) on the upside, and Argentina (-19.6%) and Sri Lanka (-26.1%) on the downside.
"Investors have become increasingly concerned about falling growth and rising inflation in emerging markets,” says Sarah Lien, Senior Research Analyst for Russell Investments. “As a result, we have seen capital outflows and weakening currencies.

“Policymakers have had to balance loosening monetary policy to boost growth—Brazil has cut interest rates to a record low—with intervention in foreign exchange markets to support currencies,” she adds. “The stock market in Argentina has fallen nearly 20.0% this year, as investors removed capital after the interventionist approach of the Kirchner government.”

Russell Emerging Markets Index Enjoys 4.5% Gain This Year | LifeHealthPro