Russian funds surprise with strong performance

Despite the impressive recovery in Asia, Russia has been the star performer among the emerging equity markets over the period, bouncing back from extremely depressed levels after the GKO default in the autumn of 1998. Mark Cooke, manager of the Brunswick Russian Frontiers fund, says: "Last year was certainly a disastrous year for investors in Russia but the depth of the crisis was overstated. Many economists got the macro picture wrong when they said the country was likely to disintegrate. The banking system imploded, but banking is largely irrelevant to most of the economic activity in Ru...