Subdued EM valuations may persist: IIF report

Tokyo

THE New Year began with a bang in financial markets - not the sound of celebratory fireworks signalling that 2016 will be a year of positive gains but more the implosion of emerging markets, according to a new report by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Washington.

Last week's 7 per cent slide in emerging market equities "has brought prices back to 2009 levels, and price/earnings valuations to just 60 per cent of those in mature markets", says the IIF, which speaks on behalf of many of the world's leading banks and other financial institutions.