NYT: Investors in Developing Markets See Optimism

By VIKAS BAJAJ and KEITH BRADSHER

MUMBAI, India — If investors in New York and London are seeing the first delicate signs of a recovery, their counterparts in developing countries say they are witnessing a full-on spring.

After a crushing fall in the last year and a half, stock markets in developing countries are riding a wave of optimism that the recovery of the global economy is at hand and being led by the developing world, especially China. Though emerging markets remain far below the lofty highs they attained more than a year ago, investors are again viewing their chances of growth as better than those of the United States or Europe.
As a result, the Indian Nifty stock index has jumped by 64 percent in the last three months. China’s CSI 300 index of shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen has risen 37 percent and Brazil’s Bovespa increased 41 percent over the same period. By comparison, the Standard & Poor’s 500’s gain of 28 percent looks modest.

“There was a stampede for the exits in the fourth quarter,” said Gonzalo S. Pangaro, portfolio manager of the T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock Fund. “The market is starting to realize that although these markets face issues, they are manageable issues.” (more)