Investor sentiment in emerging markets in central and eastern Europe slipped after Greek long-term debt was downgraded to “junk” by Moody’s. The prospect of Romania’s government facing a no-confidence vote over spending cuts also added to market uncertainty in the region.

Stocks in Moscow advanced 1.8 per cent to their highest in ten days taking the Micex index to 1,360.90, as Russian markets played catch up after a public holiday on Monday. The rouble was down 0.8 per cent against the euro to Rb34.498.

Investors know, of course, that emerging economies are growing faster than developed ones. But, when there is turmoil in financial markets, they like a little reassurance. So here it is in the form of a note today from Jonathan Anderson at UBS who says we can put an approximate figure to the sustainable rate at which the emerging economies will grow relative to the developed world.

According to Anderson, if we add four percentage points to the advanced GDP growth rate for the next five or so years, we will get a pretty good idea of the strength of emerging market performance. This is not an absolute decoupling but it is a relative one, says UBS.