Emerging Markets

Fund managers cut Middle East exposure ahead of frontier index shake-up

Emerging market fundamentals are not fixed

Barings has appointed emerging markets specialist Jean-Louis Scandella as head of equities.

BlackRock is to launch an Asia Special Situations fund for Andrew Swan and Emily Dong, after bringing its first Asian equities fund to the UK market last summer.

Stephen Jones, chief investment officer of Kames Capital, has said the UK's improving GDP figures mean it is now rivalling some emerging markets in the growth stakes.

China's growth rate slowed to its lowest level in 18 months in the first quarter of 2014 amid fears the economy is experiencing a slowdown in momentum.

M&G's Stuart Rhodes is running a record low number of stocks in his £8.5bn Global Dividend fund, having sold many US holdings on valuation concerns, as he begins to look to new regions for yield plays.

Emerging markets took a tumble at the start of the year and worried investors pulled their money out of some of the largest emerging market equity funds in the UK market.

THE BIG QUESTION

JO Hambro Capital Management's emerging markets strategy is $100m away from soft-closure, according to the group's chief executive, while two other funds are also approaching capacity.