Argentina ahead

Argentina is grappling with high inflation and debt default worries, but the country’s stock market has remained oblivious to these concerns.

The MSCI Argentina Index has been the top performer in the last one year (August 2013–September 2014), gaining over 66 per cent. In this period, the MSCI World Index gained only a modest 17 per cent.

Inflows from investors in other Latin American countries possibly boosted the prices of Argentina-listed stocks.

However, foreign investors may not have taken home all the gains, as the currency has depreciated.

Next to Argentina, the MSCI India Index has gained over 45 per cent since August 2013, according to Bloomberg data.

Improvement in the CAD, softer commodity prices, moderation in inflation in addition to improved sentiment from a new Government at the Centre aided the rally in Indian stocks.

Other key gainers include the MSCI Indonesia Index (32 per cent), MSCI Philippines (30 per cent), MSCI South Africa and MSCI Greece (27 per cent each).

The geo-political crisis in Ukraine weighed on Russian stocks, leading to an above 7 per cent fall in the MSCI Russia Index.

Russia was the sole market that witnessed erosion in value during this period. Although other markets, such as the UK, Germany, Latin America and Europe, underperformed the MSCI World Index, they still delivered positive returns for this period.