The turnaround in the sector’s outlook owes to a multitude of global factors, said Zenith senior investment analyst Justin Tay.
“The past 12 months has certainly seen a turnaround in the fortunes of emerging market equities, with emerging outperforming developed market peers by 5.2 per cent,” he said.
“The reversal in several key macroeconomic factors, particularly a consolidating US dollar, recovering commodity prices, and improvement in the political environment for some economies, have all contributed to the stronger performance in emerging markets.”
Mr Tay said this trend looked set to continue, and that investors should remember that emerging markets have outperformed their developed market peers over the longer term despite their relative underperformance in recent years.
“We believe the longer-term outlook for emerging market equities continues to be attractive given the higher expected growth rates for their underlying economies and favourable demographic trends,” he said.
In the 12 months to September 2016, the global emerging market funds rated by Zenith produced an average 7.8 per cent return, Mr Tay said, compared with 7.2 per cent for the emerging market benchmark and 4 per cent for funds exclusively invested in Asia ex-Japan.
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