Western institutions are queuing up to invest in Russian equities, believing them undervalued, but local entrepreneurs are much more sceptical about the risks involved

The US maybe suffering from slowing growth and worries over the national debt but falling equity prices are creating opportunities for adventurous stock pickers

Emerging markets are now firmly at the centre of investors’ portfolios, but opinion remains divided as how best to harness the rapid growth seen across the developing world

A number of potentially divisive cultural, economic and social issues are having an increasing impact on investment decisions.

With an ever-expanding investment universe open to private investors, identifying the right global strategy for clients can be extremely difficult, while providing the toolkit to access opportunities and hedge against risk is also a challenge.

Investors have been largely underweight European equities of late, but inflows are improving with optimism driven by strong earnings growth in the North. However, there are worries that this may not be a long-term trend, writes Ceri Jones

With worries over inflation and unrest in the Arab world, fund selectors are looking to move away from the big emerging market funds and towards other ways of accessing developing countries’ growth. Elisa Trovato reports

Emerging market equities have enjoyed stellar growth in recent times, but with problems such as rising inflation on the horizon, opinion is divided about whether this growth is set to continue. Ceri Jones reports