Looking beyond oil into Russia's consumer story

THE BEST OF THE BRICs

As the only BRIC to report a gain in the first half of the year, is Russia a one-way bet? Maria Merricks reports.

Commentators have been out in droves of late pushing the investment case for Russia. Many are touting it the ‘best of the BRICs’ with recent data from S&P serving to prove their point: Russia was the only one of the four to report a gain in the first half of the year, up 4.9% compared to India’s 9.3%, Brazil’s 3.2% and China’s 0.8% losses. Attractive valuations have added to the noise. According to Philip Poole, global head of macro and investment strategy at HSBC, they not only look cheap relative to the country’s own trading history but also on a peer group basis. Russia’s fiv...