The last time I wrote about the relative performance of the BRIC countries was a little over eight months ago, in Russia Leading the BRIC Rally. At that time, the bounce off of the March lows was barely a month old and Russia (RSX) was leading the way, followed closely by India (EPI), with Brazil (EWZ) and China (FXI) not rallying quite as sharply.
Fast forward eight months and Russia is still out in front, but starting to look a little tired. For all the talk of a Chinese bubble, FXI, the most popular Chinese ETF, is a distant fourth and falling farther behind the other BRIC ETFs with each passing week. Since the end of October, the top performers have been India and Brazil. In fact the top India ETF (EPI) is now 21% higher than it was the day before the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, while the Brazil ETF is 29% higher than its was trading just before the Lehman debacle.
Looking ahead to 2010, I expect Russia will have considerable difficulty remaining the top performer. I would not be surprised to see Brazil eclipse the bunch, followed by India and a resurgent China. One thing is certain: if investors can predict the plight of the BRIC ETFs in 2010, quite a few of the other pieces of the investment puzzle will magically begin fall into place.
For more on related subjects, readers are encouraged to check out:
- Russia Leading the BRIC Rally
- BRIC Update: China a Leader or an Outlier
- Time to Be Long China?
- Chart of the Week: China Through the Eyes of FXI
[source: StockCharts]
Disclosure: none