Almost in concert with Time Magazine naming Vladimir Putin Person of the Year, the FT has an insightful article on investing in Russia.
Why, amidst the re-emergence of Cold War tensions and the grinding down of individual liberties in Russia, was Putin named as Person of the Year? Read the article. But more than anything else, Time cites that Putin "stands, above all, for stability-stability before freedom, stability before choice, stability in a country that has hardly seen it for a hundred years."
Fine. But what does this mean for Russian markets?
Well, the FT article -- written by Douglas Helfer, manager of the HSBC GIF Russia Equity fund -- states that "Russian equities have underperformed most global emerging market peers by a wide margin this year due in large part to the uncertainty surrounding the current election cycle."
Russia is facing just the second transition of power since the Soviet Union fell more than 15 years ago, so investors have a reason to be skittish. That said, since Putin arrived in power, between January 2000 and March this year, the MSCI Russia index was up by 1,200%.
As my colleague Aaron Katsman is fond of saying, Giddyup.
Zack Miller is the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-20-2007 @ 4:51PM
scnofer said...
I think Putin was a terrible choice for Person of the Year. He is miserable little dictator who instead of liberating his people is enslaving them once again. It is only matter of time before this little pissant starts trouble on the world scene. I suppose the editors of Time thought they were being very worldly in choosing Putin, but they were being dopes instead.