This post is a guest contribution by Dr Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management.

During 2008, Russia was among the weakest stock market performers in the emerging market universe, losing more than 70% in US$ terms. But this year, the market has staged an impressive rally surging nearly 100% in the year-to-October period. The Russian market is among the cheapest in the emerging market universe and is trading at a discount of around 50% to its counterparts.

Today, Russia and many other emerging markets are now being driven by an excess in money supply in the international markets which means that these markets are experiencing an inflow of money for investments. Consequently, as Russia was more depressed than other markets, the upside is greater. At Templeton, we continue to find attractive opportunities in most sectors despite the recent rally as valuations remain undervalued. The Templeton Emerging

Wall Street has been quick to dismiss the whole idea of the emerging markets decoupling from the developed world, especially the United States. Perhaps the whole idea was dismissed too quickly, giving investors an opportunity for profit.

Even if America’s economy remains weak, there are signs that some of the larger emerging economies could see decent economic growth. Exhibit A of this new decoupling is China. Most economists agree that output will grow faster than seemed plausible only a few months ago. Economists now believe that growth could be close to 8% this year.

India’s growth estimates have also been ratcheted higher. This optimism about economic growth has fueled a rally in commodity prices which in turn has brightened the outlook for Brazil and other commodity producing countries. Brazil is under review to have its credit rating upgraded to ‘investment grade’ because of its resilience to the current global financial crisis.

That

Profit From the “New Decoupling”

Tony Daltorio, The Investment U Research Team

Emerging markets first hit investors’ radar screen about 20 or so years ago. There was a lot of skepticism and a lack of understanding about emerging markets, which was understandable because there were few emerging markets open enough (or large enough) to invest in with a degree of safety.

That has all changed in the past two decades as most emerging markets are open to foreign investments and have a high degree of liquidity. The number of so-called emerging markets has also grown from a mere handful to over 60.

Yet Wall Street seems to have missed these changes – there is still a lot of skepticism on Wall Street when it comes to investing in emerging markets. That is where the opportunity for investors lies.

Famed investor