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Tag: frontier markets

Looking for growth? Then look beyond the Brics, says Grant Thornton

Apr 17, 2013 12:08pm by Nizar Manek
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Where are the best prospects among emerging nations? Not in the Brics countries, according to data on business optimism in 44 developed and emerging markets collated by Grant Thornton International, a network of business advisory firms. For the first time since it began collecting the data a decade ago, none of the Brics is among its top five countries. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Global |

Angola plans to join eurobond rush

Feb 22, 2013 4:07pm by Andrew Bowman
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2012 was a great year for frontier-market hard-currency bonds, and Angola hopes to get in on the action in 2013. The oil producer announced on Friday plans to raise $1bn from a debut eurobond issue later this year. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Africa, Angola |
From FT.com February 7, 2013

It is the ultimate in risk versus return. Hunters of investment exotica are heading to Africa, where some of the world’s riskiest markets are enjoying big gains.

After trailing behind more mainstream markets for the better part of a decade, so-called frontier markets as defined by index provider MSCI have climbed more than 8 per cent already this year – outpacing both emerging and developed stock markets. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Africa |

Frontier markets: looking for gold

Jan 17, 2013 4:30pm by Stefan Wagstyl
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Investors in EM equities have done well from the recent global rally, with gains in the $-based MSCI emerging markets index of 7 per cent since December 1 and nearly 13 per cent since September 1.

But the big winners have been the smaller frontier markets. Argentina tops the list with a 28 per cent advance since December 1, followed by Romania on 27 per cent and Serbia on 23 per cent. The sceptics might say, ‘So, what?’ Little bourses tend to be more volatile than their larger fellows. But Citi’s Andrew Howell thinks he has spotted an interesting and potentially profitable change. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Global |

El Salvador and Mongolia: solid bet, or bubble?

Nov 30, 2012 5:56pm by Pan Kwan Yuk
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Is El Salvador, a poor Central American country struggling to overcome a violent history, a safer bet than Portugal? And is Mongolia, a country that has been rescued five times in the past 22 years by the International Monetary Fund, a better investment thesis than Spain?

Bond investors seem to think so. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Asia, El Salvador, Global, LatAm, Mongolia |

[video] Risks of the wild frontier

Sep 18, 2012 12:26pm by beyondbrics
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In the search for the next big return, investors are eyeing frontier markets, which are increasingly well understood – but their equity markets have done badly in the last 12 months.

Tags: , Posted in Africa, MidEast |

Sierra Leone: a one-stock shop

Apr 24, 2012 12:05pm by Katrina Manson
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A random assortment of dark wood desks and chairs crowd the room. The tatty carpet is no longer glamorous but it is still just about red. A big-handled bell sits on a centre table.

Welcome to the Sierra Leone Stock Exchange. Number of stocks traded: one. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Africa, Sierra Leone |

Frontier markets: a new (easier) index

Apr 11, 2012 5:42pm by Rob Minto
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Frontier markets have raised a lot of excitement among investors but they are not always easy to invest in. Many of the more exotic exchanges are not fully open to foreigners.

Handily, MSCI, the index provider, on Wednesday launched a Frontier Markets 100 index – a subset of its existing MSCI Frontier Markets index, designed to be easier to trade in and track. So what’s new? Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Global, MidEast |

Frontier equities: still out of favour

Feb 2, 2012 4:23pm by Robin Wigglesworth
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While interest in frontier market debt may be waxing, international investment in frontier equity markets has waned considerably of late.

After robust inflows over most of 2010, funds dedicated to frontier markets and tracked by EPFR Global, a data provider, have suffered a five month streak of net outflows. Investors have now withdrawn money for nine of the past 12 months, cutting the total assets under management to $7.5bn. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Africa, Global |

Guest post: frontier markets up the ante on political risk in mining

Jan 18, 2012 1:37pm by beyondbrics
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By Robert Johnston and Divya Reddy of Eurasia Group

Mining companies have been busy scouring investment frontiers that they once avoided. The world’s seven largest gold-producing companies are all developing major projects in frontier markets, including Papua New Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, and Ecuador.

Geologically-attractive deposits (especially for gold, and to a lesser extent, copper) in politically-stable countries are scarce today, while large, untapped deposits in frontier markets offer greater promise. However, this shifts risks from below- to above-ground. The world should brace itself for an increase in supply disruptions for key commodities. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , Posted in Global |

Five unlikely shelters in the storm

Dec 5, 2011 12:43pm by Rob Minto
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Tired of the usual investment advice on the Brics? On the lookout for new up-and-coming countries? Here are few recommendations that you might not have considered.

Control Risks, a consultancy which looks mainly at political and security risks around the world, released a report called RiskMap 2012 on Monday – with some intringuing investment pointers. Its top five? Bulgaria, Colombia, Libya, Mozambique, and Sri Lanka. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Bulgaria, Colombia, Libya, Mozambique, Sri Lanka |

Frontier markets: eurozone hostage

Nov 23, 2011 2:46pm by beyondbrics
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By Gabriel Sterne, Economist, Exotix Limited

To say that frontier markets have become hostage to the eurozone crisis would be an understatement. Markets have perceived the inability of European policy makers to find a solution to the euro crisis as so momentous, so troublesome, that for the time being at least, the individual identities of frontier sovereigns have to some extent been suppressed.
Indeed, performance among frontier sovereigns has been very highly correlated  in the last couple of months. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Global |

Guest post: The frontier tides they are a changin’

Jul 29, 2011 4:34pm by beyondbrics
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By Gabriel Sterne, senior economist at Exotix Limited

Warren Buffett’s quote: “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked” became immortalised during the global financial crisis, and since then the emerging market tide has come back in and frontier markets have been riding the crest of the QE-supported wave. But the tide has started to turn again in Q3, posing the questions of ‘How far will it recede?’ and ‘Are there any naked bathers?’. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Global |

BB: time to register

Dear beyondbrics readers,

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