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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Chile’s Cabinet Shifts Luring ETF Investors to Discounted Stocks

Chile has been luring investors scouring for cheap Latin American stocks over the past month. Now, a new finance minister with Wall Street credentials is giving another reason for buyers to double down on their bets.

The iShares MSCI Chile Capped exchange-traded fund has received $57 million in funds without a single day of outflows since April 2. In the past week, the ETF had inflows of $13 million, more than any other fund in the region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

More than half of the past week’s inflows came on the day that Rodrigo Valdes, a former economist for Barclays PLC and BTG Pactual, was appointed finance minister to replace Alberto Arenas, who had been at loggerheads with local business executives over the government’s economic agenda.

This move has investors anticipating measures that could boost economic expansion, according to Bradford Jones, who manages $150 million in Latin American stocks at Sagil Asset Management. “We’re very positive on the appointment,” Jones said in a phone interview from London.

“We expect this will improve confidence both in Chile and among international investors.”

 President Michelle Bachelet’s tax and labor reforms had been weighing negatively on the market, Jones said. The IPSA benchmark stock index traded at 18.2 times earnings, or 10 percent below its five-year average valuation. The ratio was at 16.4 times on March 10, the lowest since 2011.

bloomberg.com

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