Most emerging market stocks advanced after valuations reached the lowest level versus developed markets since 2005 and lower energy prices boosted Indian companies and transport shares.
ICICI Bank Ltd, India's biggest private lender, gained to a one-month high in Mumbai and the rupee strengthened 0.4 per cent against the dollar. Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd snapped a four-day slump in Johannesburg after gold prices rebounded. China Southern Airlines Co. advanced the most since February 20 as oil prices fell. Cnooc Ltd, China's largest offshore oil producer, sank to a 10-month low in Hong Kong.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index was little changed at 1,003.54 as of 4:40 pm in Hong Kong, erasing an earlier decline of as much as 0.9 per cent. About 338 stocks rose and 249 fell. The gauge is valued at 1.5 times net assets, compared with 1.9 for the MSCI World Index, the biggest gap since August 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
"Where there are extremes, there are opportunities and some investors are using this as a good time to get involved in some of the cyclical plays," said Stan Shamu, a market strategist at IG Markets Ltd.
The emerging-markets index has slid 4.9 per cent this year as government intervention in the biggest developing nations curbed profits and economic growth slowed from South Korea to Poland. Brazil's Bovespa Index led emerging-market declines in 2013 with a 13 per cent slump. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index is down 8.8 per cent while the S&P BSE India Index has lost 3.9 per cent. The MSCI World index gained 6.5 per cent.
Buying opportunity
"I would imagine that this is going to be a significant buying opportunity for emerging-market asset prices," Jan Dehn, the co-head of research at Ashmore Investment Management Ltd, which oversees about $71 billion, said in an interview on Bloomberg television in Hong Kong today.
ICICI Bank advanced 2.5 per cent, its sixth day of gains. Larsen & Toubro Ltd, India's biggest engineering company, advanced to a two-week high. The Sensex index rose 1.4 per cent, the most since November 29.
India's current-account deficit, the broadest measure of trade, swelled to $32.6 billion in the December quarter, or 6.7 per cent of gross domestic product, stoked by gold and oil imports. The country imports more than 80 per cent of its oil and is the world's largest bullion buyer.
"Inflation is beginning to come off and the current- account deficit will start improving significantly" because of lower commodity prices, Anup Maheshwari, head of equities and corporate strategy at DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt, which has $5.7 billion in Indian equities, told Bloomberg TV India today.
Harmony gold
Harmony Gold added 1.5 per cent, halting a four-day, 18 per cent loss, as gold rebounded from its biggest slump in three decades. Sibanye Gold Ltd., South Africa's second-biggest producer of the metal, rose 1.2 per cent, after it tumbled 10 per cent yesterday.
Russia's Micex gained for the first time in four days, adding 0.2 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6 per cent, rebounding from a three-month low. The Jakarta Composite Index added 0.7 per cent.
A gauge of energy producers in the MSCI emerging index posted the biggest decline among 10 industry groups today, falling 0.6 per cent to the lowest level since July 2012. The S&P GSCI Spot Index of commodities fell 0.6 per cent, extending this year's drop to 6.4 per cent. The S&P GSCI Spot Index slid for a second day after reports on Chinese economic growth and manufacturing in the New York region yesterday trailed economist estimates.
Weaker data
"Weaker economic data in China and some slower figures in the US appear to be weighing on commodities prices," Kim Dae Young, a fund manager at KB Asset Management Co., which manages about $27 billion in assets, said by phone from Seoul today.
China's 7.7 per cent increase in first-quarter gross domestic product from a year earlier marked the first time in data going back two decades that four periods in a row have seen growth of less than 8 per cent. The figure released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing was also the worst miss of analyst estimates since the third quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index dropped to 3.1 this month from 9.2 in March. The median projection of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 7. U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment figures released on April 12 also trailed projections.
Airlines gain
China Southern Airlines, the country's biggest domestic carrier, jumped 4.1 per cent on speculation airlines will likely benefit from lower fuel costs. China Eastern Airlines Corp. advanced 4.8 per cent, its first gain in three days. Cnooc fell 1.9 per cent, its third day of losses. Korean Air Lines Co. tumbled 7 per cent in Seoul, the lowest level since March 2009, after Daishin Securities Co. cut its price target to 43,000 won from 53,000 won, citing weaker-than-expected 2013 earnings.
Daphne International Holdings Ltd. sank 8.1 per cent in Hong Kong after its same-store sales in the first quarter dropped. Mando Corp, South Korea's third-largest maker of car parts, dropped 6.6 per cent to a record low, as the company defied government efforts to limit the dominance of family-controlled industrial empires known as chaebol.
ICICI Bank Ltd, India's biggest private lender, gained to a one-month high in Mumbai and the rupee strengthened 0.4 per cent against the dollar. Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd snapped a four-day slump in Johannesburg after gold prices rebounded. China Southern Airlines Co. advanced the most since February 20 as oil prices fell. Cnooc Ltd, China's largest offshore oil producer, sank to a 10-month low in Hong Kong.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index was little changed at 1,003.54 as of 4:40 pm in Hong Kong, erasing an earlier decline of as much as 0.9 per cent. About 338 stocks rose and 249 fell. The gauge is valued at 1.5 times net assets, compared with 1.9 for the MSCI World Index, the biggest gap since August 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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Indian stocks gained the most in Asia on optimism declining commodity prices will help the government curb a record current-account deficit.
"Where there are extremes, there are opportunities and some investors are using this as a good time to get involved in some of the cyclical plays," said Stan Shamu, a market strategist at IG Markets Ltd.
The emerging-markets index has slid 4.9 per cent this year as government intervention in the biggest developing nations curbed profits and economic growth slowed from South Korea to Poland. Brazil's Bovespa Index led emerging-market declines in 2013 with a 13 per cent slump. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index is down 8.8 per cent while the S&P BSE India Index has lost 3.9 per cent. The MSCI World index gained 6.5 per cent.
Buying opportunity
"I would imagine that this is going to be a significant buying opportunity for emerging-market asset prices," Jan Dehn, the co-head of research at Ashmore Investment Management Ltd, which oversees about $71 billion, said in an interview on Bloomberg television in Hong Kong today.
ICICI Bank advanced 2.5 per cent, its sixth day of gains. Larsen & Toubro Ltd, India's biggest engineering company, advanced to a two-week high. The Sensex index rose 1.4 per cent, the most since November 29.
India's current-account deficit, the broadest measure of trade, swelled to $32.6 billion in the December quarter, or 6.7 per cent of gross domestic product, stoked by gold and oil imports. The country imports more than 80 per cent of its oil and is the world's largest bullion buyer.
"Inflation is beginning to come off and the current- account deficit will start improving significantly" because of lower commodity prices, Anup Maheshwari, head of equities and corporate strategy at DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt, which has $5.7 billion in Indian equities, told Bloomberg TV India today.
Harmony gold
Harmony Gold added 1.5 per cent, halting a four-day, 18 per cent loss, as gold rebounded from its biggest slump in three decades. Sibanye Gold Ltd., South Africa's second-biggest producer of the metal, rose 1.2 per cent, after it tumbled 10 per cent yesterday.
Russia's Micex gained for the first time in four days, adding 0.2 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6 per cent, rebounding from a three-month low. The Jakarta Composite Index added 0.7 per cent.
A gauge of energy producers in the MSCI emerging index posted the biggest decline among 10 industry groups today, falling 0.6 per cent to the lowest level since July 2012. The S&P GSCI Spot Index of commodities fell 0.6 per cent, extending this year's drop to 6.4 per cent. The S&P GSCI Spot Index slid for a second day after reports on Chinese economic growth and manufacturing in the New York region yesterday trailed economist estimates.
Weaker data
"Weaker economic data in China and some slower figures in the US appear to be weighing on commodities prices," Kim Dae Young, a fund manager at KB Asset Management Co., which manages about $27 billion in assets, said by phone from Seoul today.
China's 7.7 per cent increase in first-quarter gross domestic product from a year earlier marked the first time in data going back two decades that four periods in a row have seen growth of less than 8 per cent. The figure released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing was also the worst miss of analyst estimates since the third quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index dropped to 3.1 this month from 9.2 in March. The median projection of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 7. U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment figures released on April 12 also trailed projections.
Airlines gain
China Southern Airlines, the country's biggest domestic carrier, jumped 4.1 per cent on speculation airlines will likely benefit from lower fuel costs. China Eastern Airlines Corp. advanced 4.8 per cent, its first gain in three days. Cnooc fell 1.9 per cent, its third day of losses. Korean Air Lines Co. tumbled 7 per cent in Seoul, the lowest level since March 2009, after Daishin Securities Co. cut its price target to 43,000 won from 53,000 won, citing weaker-than-expected 2013 earnings.
Daphne International Holdings Ltd. sank 8.1 per cent in Hong Kong after its same-store sales in the first quarter dropped. Mando Corp, South Korea's third-largest maker of car parts, dropped 6.6 per cent to a record low, as the company defied government efforts to limit the dominance of family-controlled industrial empires known as chaebol.