Bric investment theme loses appeal as outlook for the four economies diverges

Singapore

THE Bric grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China has never looked so disunited to stock investors.

While Chinese and Indian benchmark equity indexes have surged an average 40 per cent this year, Russian and Brazilian gauges posted a mean drop of 4.2 per cent. The annual divergence is on pace to be the biggest since economist Jim O'Neill coined the term in 2001, leaving the combined market capitalisation of Chinese and Indian equities US$5.2 trillion larger than that of Russia and Brazil, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.