WARSAW: Emerging markets’ rebound has been sharp this year, with the benchmark MSCI EM index up 12%.
The big winner is a bit of a surprise: Poland, where equities are up 21.5%. (All results in this column are through March 23.) The Central European nation’s advance had been helped by projected economic growth of 3.3% this year, following last year’s 3.1% gain in gross domestic product.
No. 2 is South Korea, where stocks have risen 17.3% in 2017, despite the ouster of the country’s president as a result of an influence-peddling investigation involving conglomerates, including the Samsung Group. Shares of Samsung Electronics, one part of the Samsung empire, are up more than 20% this year. The third-best performer has been Mexico. Its stock market is up 15.3%, as the peso stabilizes and fears of U.S. trade barriers eases.
