Most emerging-market stocks fell as weaker growth in Chinese manufacturing overshadowed monetary easing in Europe and the prospect of interest-rate cuts in India.
Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that Brazil’s Ibovespa dropped for the first time this week.
Lenovo Group Limited slumped by 2.7 per cent in Hong Kong after talks to buy parts of International Business Machines Corporation’s server division broke down, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Hyundai Merchant Marine Company sank to an eight- year low in Seoul. Indian stocks jumped the most in Asia, while Turkey rallied to a record. Brazilian mining company Vale SA, whose biggest export market is China, slumped by 1.9 per cent.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped by 0.1 per cent to 1,037.39 by 1:43 p.m. in New York, as 426 equities fell, while 358 rose.
A private gauge of Chinese manufacturing declined last month, missing projections. The European Central Bank cut interest rates to a record low, and the Reserve Bank of India will lower the repurchase rate for a third straight meeting, 33 of 40 analysts said in a Bloomberg survey.
“These shots of monetary easing are like shots of adrenaline that have less and less effect,” said Derrick Irwin, a portfolio manager of the Wells Fargo Advantage Emerging Markets Equity Fund, who helps manage $10.2bn in Boston.
“For China, expectations of a strong recovery have definitely been tempered. That has weighed on markets.”
Measures of commodity shares led losses in the emerging- market index. The broad gauge has lost 1.7 percent this year, compared with a 9.8 per cent increase in the MSCI World Index of developed-country stocks.
The emerging-markets measure trades at 10.8 times 12-month projected profit, compared with the MSCI World’s 14.2 times, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.