Russia, Turkey ETFs May Be Opportunities in Emerging Market Space
A strong U.S. dollar has weighed on the outlook of the emerging markets. However, investors may still find opportunities in some areas and country-related exchange traded funds.
A sustained U.S. dollar rally will pressure developing markets.
“Unfortunately, we do not believe the dollar rally is over which means the headwind is still there. But we think we’re more than two-thirds of the way for that dollar rally to be over,” Andres Garcia-Amaya, a macro research analyst for emerging market equities at JPMorgan Asset Management, said on CNBC.
Consequently, investors have been cooled on the emerging market theme this year, pulling $9.3 billion from emerging market funds in the week ended June 11, the highest sum since 2008 during the height of the global financial crisis.
For instance, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) experienced $948.2 million in outflows so far this month. [Investors Are Ditching Emerging Market Stock ETFs]
Nevertheless, Garcia-Amaya argues that there are still “lots of opportunities” in the asset class. Specifically, the analyst points to markets that have plunged on geopolitical risk, such as Russia and Turkey.
Year-to-date, the Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) gained 26.7%, iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF (ERUS) rose 24.0% and SPDR S&P Russia ETF (RBL) increased 22.8%. [Russia ETFs Jump as Economy Expected to Return to Growth]
The market is also trading at cheap valuations. RSX has a 7.47 price-to-earnings ratio, ERUS shows a 6.2 P/E and RBL is trading at a 6.5 P/E. In contrast, EEM has a 13.3 P/E.
Russian stocks have bounced back, with the Russia ETFs now testing their 200-day simple moving average, after falling on Western sanctions in response to the country’s actions in Crimea, Ukraine and the sudden decline in oil prices late last year.
Meanwhile, the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR) has plunged 19.0% so far this year. TUR is also trading at a relatively cheap 10.4 P/E. [Turkey ETF Plunges on Political Uncertainty]
Turkey’s recent election results added to further political uncertainty as the ruling AK Party failed to garner a parliament majority, sending Turkish equities and country-specific ETF in free fall.
For more information on the developing countries, visit our emerging markets category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.
