Emerging market equities have rallied more than a fifth from their October trough as easing global inflation and hopes the US central bank will soon slow its interest rate rises prompt investors to shift in to the asset class.

The MSCI Emerging Markets index has risen more than 21 per cent from its intraday low on October 25, according to Refinitiv data. Typically a rise of 20 per cent from a recent low is considered a bull market.

The more upbeat recent run comes after a painful stretch between February 2021 and late October last year, when the MSCI EM index tumbled more than 40 per cent. Last year’s big Federal Reserve rate rises and a strengthening US dollar sucked money out of risky assets including EM equities and local-currency bonds. Investment funds that buy such assets suffered their biggest outflows on record last year before staging a recovery from November on the promise of a reversal in US rates.