EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks, FX mark new year rally on dollar weakness, recovery hopes

  • Reuters
  • Stock Market News
EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks, FX mark new year rally on dollar weakness, recovery hopes
Credit: © Reuters.

* Turkish, Russian stocks at record highs

* USD sold off against risk assets

* Polish zloty lags on rate-cut expectations

By Ambar Warrick

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Turkey's lira led gains across emerging market currencies on Monday as higher-than-expected inflation fuelled expectations of tight monetary policy, while stocks in the developing world hit a 13-year high as investors hoped for a swift economic recovery in 2021.

The MSCI's index of emerging market stocks jumped more than 1.1% to its highest level since late 2007, while the currencies index .MIEM00000CUS rose 0.6% to its highest level since early 2018, also benefiting from weakness in the U.S. dollar.

Adding to the mood were signs of continued economic expansion in China, which saw the yuan CNY=CFXS jumping 0.9% to the dollar in its best day in nearly three months. The currency also breached a key technical barrier that could see the yuan extending last year's strong gains. CNY/

The Turkish lira TRY= rose about 1.2%, leading gains across currencies in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Higher-than-expected December inflation figures saw investors increasing their expectations of near-term interest rate hikes by the central bank. year of double-digit inflation and a weak lira - which had touched a series of record lows in early November - had prompted the central bank to reverse an easing cycle and hike rates by 675 points since November.

Other EMEA currencies such as Russia's rouble RUB= and the South African rand ZAR= rose 0.8% and 1%, respectively. The dollar was sold off heavily in favour of riskier assets. USD/

"Low interest rates and an improving economic outlook following vaccines rollout has led to further short selling in the dollar, particularly against the euro and Chinese yuan," said Hussein Sayed, Chief Market Strategist at FXTM.

While MSCI's EM currencies index had gained in 2020, a bulk of its strength had come from Asian units.

EMEA currencies had underperformed their Asian peers, as the rapid spread of the virus, loose monetary policy and geopolitical tensions made them less attractive.

But stocks were a different story, as expectations of prolonged monetary policy easing and increased liquidity measures saw continued buying into equities. Turkish .XU100 and Russian .IMOEX stocks hit record highs on the day.

The MSCI's EM stocks index had jumped nearly 16% in 2020, despite a rough start to the year.

Central European currencies rose against the euro for the day, although the Polish zloty EURPLN= lagged its peers after a central banker said he would support further interest rate cuts if necessary. rates in Poland were cut to record lows last year due to the pandemic, and could potentially turn negative with more easing.

For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2021, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2021, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see CEE/

For TURKISH market report, see .IS

For RUSSIAN market report, see RU/RUB

Add Chart to Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind: 

  • Enrich the conversation
  • Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
  • Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically.
  •  Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and links within a comment will be removed
  • Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user.
  • Don’t Monopolize the Conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also believe strongly in giving everyone a chance to air their thoughts. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Drop an image here or Supported formats: *.jpg, *.png, *.gif up to 5mb

Error: File type not supported

Drop an image here or

100
Please try another search