Tue, Dec 22, 2020 – 5:50 AM
Dubai
EMERGING markets (EMs) may have their work cut out sustaining one of their strongest final quarters in more than a decade.
Prospects for a US stimulus windfall, a successful roll-out of Covid-19 vaccine programmes, a commodity-price boom and even a possible Brexit trade deal were enough to keep the rally on course last week. Indexes of stocks, currencies and bonds registered their seventh successive weekly advance, taking the gain on the MSCI Inc equity gauge since the end of September to more than 17 per cent.
But therein lies a warning. On the two occasions in the past five years when stocks have clocked up such a string of weekly gains, the rally has sputtered. What’s more, as of last week, the gauge was at 15 times the projected 12-month earnings of its members, hovering at the 98th percentile of its valuation range of the past decade. And…
