I went over the first quarter's hottest foreign stock exchanges yesterday, so I may as well follow up by taking a look at the five markets that brought up the rear.
No, the United States did not crack the list of cellar-dwellers. The Dow's 6% slide pales in comparison to what some of last year's hottest markets surrendered during the first three months of 2008.
Return in U.S. dollar |
Return in Local Currency |
|
---|---|---|
Turkey |
(37.2%) |
(28.5%) |
Cyprus |
(35.0%) |
(40.0%) |
Iceland |
(33.8%) |
(20.1%) |
India |
(29.2%) |
(27.9%) |
China |
(26.8%) |
(27.0%) |
Don't panic. Volatility is part of the art of country-specific investing. Just as China and India -- the world's most populous markets -- had strong runs in 2007, the deep dips to start off 2008 may simply be breathers before bullish runs.
If you're in the mood to bottom-fish here, I have a serving suggestion. Morgan Stanley's Turkish Investment Fund
I don't have any suggestions for Cyprus or Iceland -- unless you want to take a chance on Bank of Cyprus as a pink sheet. But I have plenty to say on both India and China.
Each country has several dedicated funds, but the equity prices have gotten marked down to the point where you may want to pick out individual stallions instead of banking on the entire herd through a fund.
In China, there are plenty of bellwethers to look into. Since Internet usage is growing quickly, search engine leader Baidu.com
Then you have India. Satyam Computer Services
So let the rain fall in once-hot overseas markets. Some of them needed the time to cool off, giving us intriguing opportunities at attractive prices.