(Bloomberg News) Emerging-market stocks rose from a five-month low as Premier Wen Jiabao said China should focus more on supporting the economy, spurring gains in commodities and offsetting concern Europe's debt crisis will worsen.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.5 percent to 911.21 as of 12:02 p.m. in New York, snapping a seven-day decline. Russia's Micex Index jumped the most since March 11, as OAO Tatneft, a regional oil producer, advanced 4.8 percent. Brazil's Bovespa climbed the most since April 12 as shares of Banco do Brasil SA, Latin America's largest lender by assets, had the sharpest jump in almost seven months.
China should adopt a "proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy" to bolster the world's second-largest economy, Wen said over the weekend. German and French finance chiefs met in Berlin today before a European Union summit on May 23 after concern Greece will exit the euro erased about $4 trillion from global stock markets this month. The Standard & Poor's GSCI index of 24 commodities added 0.5 percent to rebound from a 2012 low.
"The fact that China is getting ahead of things and shifting toward an easing mode is making people more comfortable with getting into the emerging markets," Dave Lutz, head of ETF trading and strategy at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said by phone from Baltimore today. "Emerging markets are dependent on China's growth."
Brazil Picks Up
Growth in Brazil, the world's sixth-biggest economy, is picking up after a "weak" first quarter, reducing the need for additional stimulus measures, Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega said in a May 18 interview in Sao Paulo.
The Bovespa rose 2.4 percent to gain for a second day. Banco do Brasil, a state-controlled bank, climbed 5.1 percent on speculation it will manage three local debt issues totaling 2.6 billion reais ($1.28 billion), Valor Economico reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
Cia Siderurgica Nacional S.A., Brazil's third-largest steelmaker, jumped 6.1 percent, snapping a six-day decline. The company expects demand to increase 5 to 6 percent this year, David Salama, the company's head of investor relations, said at the Rio Investors Day conference today.
Russia's Micex Index jumped 2.1 percent in Moscow. Mail.ru, the largest Russian-language Internet company and an investor in Facebook, fell 9.1 percent, the most since Oct. 4, in London.
The WIG20 Index jumped 1.7 percent in Warsaw and the BUX Index advanced 0.7 percent in Budapest. The FTSE/JSE Africa All Shares Index retreated 0.2 percent in Johannesburg, as Naspers Ltd., Africa's largest media group, slid 5.2 percent.