Sector report: Finding the bright spots in emerging markets

Emerging markets significantly underperformed developed markets in 2013 on the back of concerns over slower growth and the tapering of the US Federal Reserve's quantitative easing programme. Thus far in 2014, emerging market equities have continued to be negatively affected by heightened investor concern over the likely direction of interest rates, as the Fed has continued to taper its bond purchases and in light of weaker economic newsflow out of China. Over the last 12 months, the MSCI Emerging Market index has returned 11.8% in US dollar terms, while the MSCI World index for de...