JPMorgan fund manager says always buy the dip in emerging markets

[NEW YORK] The JPMorgan emerging-market money manager who outperformed 95 per cent of peers since 2014 follows a three-word mantra: Buy the dip. As the dollar weakens and global central banks turn dovish, that means Leon Eidelman is adding Indian lenders, Chinese insurance companies and Latin American financial technology firms.

"During 95 per cent of politically induced noise, there tend to be good buying opportunities," Mr Eidelman, whose US$6.2 billion JPMorgan Emerging Markets Equity Fund is among the US$21 billion he helps oversee, said in an interview.

"If you know exactly what it is that is worth owning, then you can act in a direction which is contrary to what the market it doing."

Indian banks are starting to win market share as more people seek financial services and opt for tech-savvy, private firms over those run by the state, he said, pointing to HDFC Bank Ltd as "the single best bank in India".

In China, the insurance business could double or triple in size within the next 15 years, benefiting companies such as AIA Group Ltd and Ping An Insurance Group, Mr Eidelman said.

MercadoLibre Inc in Argentina and PagSeguro Digital Ltd in Brazil, meantime, provide investors with opportunities to bet on growing demand for technology in an increasingly digitised region.

"The big theme we have in the portfolio is around the investment that businesses need to make in digital," he said.

BLOOMBERG