EMs fall into bear market territory as Turkey crisis, commodities and Tencent bite

Falls of over 20%

Emerging markets have dropped into bear territory, down around 20% from their January highs, as the impact of Turkey's currency crisis, a commodity price rout and disappointing results from Chinese tech giant Tencent, which reported its first profit drop in a decade, weighed on sentiment.

According to the Financial Times, the FTSE Emerging index slumped as much as 2.3% on Wednesday, taking the benchmark's fall since its 26 January peak to more than 20% — the usual definition of a bear market. Emerging markets have been under pressure for several months as they face issues such as the stronger US dollar, rising US interest rates and concerns about the fall-out from US President Trump's trade wars.  The recent currency crisis in Turkey has also hit wider sentiment towards emerging markets, despite analysts believing the risks are largely contained to the country.   'C...