Emerging market investors may want to keep an eye on India exchange traded funds after Moody’s Investors Services upgraded its outlook on India, predicting the economy to outpace its peers ahead.
Year-to-date, the WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (NYSEArca: EPI) rose 6.4%, iShares India 50 ETF (NasdaqGM: INDY) gained 7.6% and PowerShares India Portfolio (NYSEArca: PIN) increased 11.2%. [India ETFs Stand Out Among Emerging Countries]
EPI weights companies based on their earnings in the fiscal year prior to adjustments. INDY focuses on the largest 50 Indian stocks. Lastly, PIN also selects components from the largest Indian stocks available, but overweights tech and energy names, whereas financials is the largest sector tilt in both EPI and INDY.
India’s stocks have been outperforming the broader emerging markets over the past year, with EPI gaining 23.4%, INDY rising 25.1% and PIN advancing 24.4%. Meanwhile, the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO), which tracks the FTSE Emerging Index, added 3.4% and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: EEM), which follows the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, returned 7.4%. [Emerging Market ETFs Could Begin to Outpace U.S.]
Moody’s raised its outlook on India’s credit to “positive” from “stable” Thursday in response to reforms that will improve the country’s “macro-economic, infrastructure and institutional profile,” which could allow the economy to outperform other emerging markets over the medium-term, reports Ansuya Harjani for CNBC.
“There is an increasing probability that actions by policy makers will enhance the country’s economic strength and, in turn, the sovereign’s financial strength over coming years,” according to Moody’s.
Recent reforms have bolstered the appeal of India’s markets. For instance, the government has implemented measures to address inflation, keep external balances in check and simplify the regulatory requirements for investors, which have in turn increased foreign direct investment.