One of Africa's largest asset managers is making a contrarian bet on Indonesia, snapping up equities in what has become the world's worst-performing stock market after a prolonged selloff sent investors rushing for the exits.
According to Bloomberg, Johannesburg-headquartered Ninety One, which manages approximately $29 billion in assets, has started buying Indonesian stocks after a sharp decline left valuations at levels the firm considers attractive.
Indonesia's benchmark Jakarta Composite Index has fallen more than 35% in U.S. dollar terms this year, making it the weakest-performing equity benchmark among the 92 stock indexes tracked by Bloomberg.
The downturn accelerated during the recent Iran conflict as investors reduced exposure to riskier emerging markets.
However, the market's troubles began months earlier after MSCI Inc. warned in January that Indonesia could lose its emerging market status because of concerns over investability, including the limited supply of freely tradable shares in many listed companies.
