Rising interest rates cool sizzling rally in emerging markets

Rising interest rates cool sizzling rally in emerging markets

Be the first to know about every new Coronavirus story

The rush into emerging market assets since the depths of the coronavirus crisis a year ago is facing its first serious test as rising US interest rates revive memories of the "taper tantrum“ of 2013.

Emerging market stocks sailed almost 90 per cent higher in US dollar terms from the nadir in March to a historic peak last week, according to MSCI's broad index of equities in 27 countries. The surge stemmed in part from a ferocious hunt for returns after central bank stimulus depressed interest rates in developed markets to record lows.

But a sharp drop in developed-market government bond prices since the start of 2021 has sent borrowing costs sharply higher, and started to ripple into emerging markets. MSCI's EM stock barometer has slipped about 5 per cent from last week's high, reflecting drops in countries stretching from China to Turkey and Brazil.

"There's no doubt that yield curve steepening worldwide is starting to spill over into other asset markets and the last thing we need right now is a full-blown bond and equity market sell-off,“ said Win Thin, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman.

To some analysts, the set-up