Spotlight on: Korea's equity markets

Distinguishing between those countries that would simply do well in a broad emerging market rally, and the economies where fundamentals have actually improved, is becoming increasingly important.

Since the summer sell-off, certain emerging market economies have benefitted from the push back in tightening expectations of the US Federal Reserve and are seeing signs of recovery. This theme brings us to Korea. Korean equities tumbled by 13%in the summer. The Korean market has since recouped some of its losses, with Korean companies' third quarter reporting season getting off to a strong start as a result of positive currency tailwinds. The economy is also benefitting from improving economic data. Helped by the weaker won versus both the dollar as well as the Japanese yen over the...