* Russian assets stall ahead of weekend election; oil
supports
* Emerging equities head for third straight week or gains
* Iran votes in parliament election
By Philip Baillie
LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) – Emerging equities rose on
Friday, heading for their third consecutive week of gains but
Russian assets stalled as jitters grew ahead of a weekend
presidential election that is widely expected to result in
victory for Vladimir Putin.
World markets have added to gains this week after the
European Central Bank’s half a trillion euros in cheap
three-year loans soothed worries about banks’ balance sheets,
driving down bond yields for highly indebted euro zone
governments and encouraging larger positions in developing
economies.
The MSCI emerging equities index rose 0.2 percent
but stayed off 6-1/2-month highs hit earlier this week. The
index has rallied in eight out of the nine weeks since the start
of the year and has risen 18 percent this year.
“What we are seeing is that whenever there’s no bad news
emerging markets are getting inflows. Basically the absence of
news is supportive of EMs,” said David Hauner, head of EEMEA
economics and fixed income strategy at BofA Merrill Lynch Global
Research.
“One reason is that after the carnage of the second half of
last year, positioning is still lower than it was in many
markets,” Hauner said, noting that most emerging assets were yet
to regain levels at which they were trading at the end of July.
Continued…
