The surprise “No Taper” decision by the Fed in its September policy brought in the much needed respite for many emerging nations. Indian markets have gained more than 6.5% in the last three months.
More recently, election euphoria in Asia’s third largest economy pushed its stock market index – Nifty- to an all time high of 6415 last week. The impressive performance in the recent elections in four states by the Bharatiya Janata Party–perceived to be more pro-business than the current ruling party Congress—resulted in the bullish trend.,.
A few other factors also supported the surge. The rupee, which touched a record low of around 69 per dollar during the month of August, has bounced back 10% during the past three months. Below we have listed some of the other drivers for this rally. (read: Buy These High Beta ETFs For a Santa Claus Rally)
Hot Money Inflow
Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) have again started to pour funds in the emerging economies in search of higher returns. Since the beginning of September, FIIs have bought a massive $5.5 billion of Indian equity after pulling out $3.61 billion from June to August.
This massive inflow of cheap money after Fed decided to keep its monthly bond-buying program intact enabled the emerging equity markets to revive, pushing them higher.
Boost in Foreign Reserves
The new Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan took some crucial measures to arrest the slide in the rupee and boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
RBI liberalized its financial markets to attract more foreign investors by making it convenient for Indian banks to borrow from overseas and by offering programs to lure overseas Indians to put their money in local bank deposits.
These measures enhanced India’s foreign exchange reserves to $291.3 billion for the month of November from $282.9 billion in the preceding month, representing a third consecutive monthly rise.
Positive Economic Indicators
India’s manufacturing activities are slowly getting back on track. The HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 51.3 in November, the highest level since March. Importantly, any climb above 50 indicates that the economy is expanding. (read: 3 ETFs to Profit from the Manufacturing Upswing)
Exports for November rose 5.86%, while imports fell 16.37%. This positive data narrowed India’s trade deficit. Moreover, falling crude prices also provided some relief to India’s import bill.
Market Impact
The positive economic indicators and the election euphoria pushed the Indian ETFs northwards in the last one month. The Market Vectors India Small-Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:SCIF) surged around 8% in the last month, while the iShares India 50 (NASDAQ:INDY) and PowerShares India (NYSEARCA:PIN) increased around 7% and 5% respectively.
Moreover, the brake on Fed taper helped SCIF to gain around 15% over the last three months, while INDY gained 10% and PIN added 7% over the same time frame.
Also, all the 11 Indian ETFs delivered positive returns in the preceding month. However most of these ETFs are still in the negative terrotory if we look at the year-to-date time frame.
(...)Click here to continue reading the original ETFDailyNews.com article: Should Investors Consider India ETFs In 2014?
You are viewing an abbreviated republication of ETF Daily News content. You can find full ETF Daily News articles on (www.etfdailynews.com)
Related posts:
Should Investors Avoid India ETFs?
How A Struggling Jobs Market Will Reward Investors In 2014
India ETFs In Focus On Goldman’s Upgrade
Is The Worst Over For India ETFs?
Inside The Surge In India Small Cap ETFs