Relook at value investing in today's emerging markets

New York

WHILE most forms of investing require a leap of faith, betting on emerging-markets stock funds this year - Chinese stocks have already had double-digit declines - may feel like jumping across the Grand Canyon.

Not only have shares of companies based in developing economies like China, Brazil and Russia been mired in a prolonged bear market - prices were down about 40 per cent from April 2011 through Thursday, compared with a 44 per cent gain per cent for US stocks - but this once-promising group was also hit with a double whammy of bad news at the end of last year.