After a rough year, exchange traded funds that track BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – are steadily improving and were bolstered following the Fed’s intention to keep its ultra-loose monetary policy.
Over the past month, the Guggenheim BRIC ETF (NYSEArca: EEB) gained 11.6%, iShares MSCI BRIC ETF (NYSEArca: BKF) was 11.8% higher and the SPDR S&P BRIC 40 ETF (NYSEArca: BIK) rose 11.4%. [Run, Don’t Walk to BRIC ETFs]
“We can assume this rally is going to last for some time, probably at least a few weeks,” Murat Toprak, emerging FX strategist at HSBC, said in a Reuters article. “There is a reassessment by the market of monetary policy changes going forward.”
Assets have been flowing back into emerging markets as investors put cheap Fed cash to work in riskier assets. [BRICs Lead Emerging Market ETFs]
Speculation that rates could stay low for a longer-than-expected period was also reinforced by hints that Janet Yellen, who has shown dovish tendencies, would take over the Fed after Ben Bernanke.
Looking at the country-specific ETFs, the iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF (NYSEArca: EWZ) increased 16.6% over the past month, Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSEArca: RSX) rose 12.1%, WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (NYSE: EPI) was up 16.3% and iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: FXI) was 7.8% higher.