00:00You think that emerging markets are at a turning point. Why?
00:05First of all, because they've been so negative for the last three years.
00:08Emerging markets have underperformed, number one.
00:11Number two, India and China are growing at six, seven percent.
00:15And what's behind this rally? Is it sustainable going into 2018?
00:18China, of course, because China continues to open up and there's more opportunity there.
00:24India would be next because these are two big liquid possibilities going forward.
00:29Even though India has come back a lot and has even at some point outperformed the U.S. market, India
00:36has still got a long way to go.
00:38You've got to get used to a whole new order. Some stocks are looking very attractive.
00:43And most particularly, countries like India will be benefiting from what's happened with China.
00:50India disappointed last year. Will it be different in 2026?
00:54I take a longer view about India. India has lots of problems.
00:59The bureaucracy is slowing down the economy in many, many ways.
01:04But still, despite that, the growth has been tremendous.
01:08Six, seven percent growth.
01:12That was pioneer emerging market investor Mark Mobius, who died here in Singapore at age 89.
01:18And from what you saw from my different hairstyles, we've been interviewing him for all these years.
01:23Well, Mobius was a visionary and a firm believer in opportunities in emerging markets and made his name at Franklin
01:29Templeton, where he worked for more than three decades.
01:33There he launched one of the industry's first funds to focus on money making opportunities in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe
01:40and Latin America.
01:41For more on his legacy, joining us now is Bloomberg MLive strategist Mark Cranfield here in Singapore.
01:47And over in Hong Kong, Bloomberg Intelligence chief Asia ethics and rate strategist Stephen Chu.
01:52And Mark, you met Mark Mobius yourself. I mean, what was your own takeaway?
01:57We know that he loves India. He talks about India being a 50 year rally story.
02:01Yeah. But he was he tended to be a little early in most markets, whether it was Thailand, even Korea
02:07to some extent, Taiwan, Malaysia.
02:10India is the classic story. He was way, way ahead of the crowd in terms of India.
02:15If you look at when he started to get really bullish in the 2010s, India more than doubled during the
02:20time when he was holding and he was talking that telling everybody got to get into India.
02:24Most people waited until the market had almost doubled before. So he would have done that very well riding through
02:29that.
02:29He's when you go to conferences. I met him a few times there.
02:33It was his marketing technique of wearing the very bright suit was brilliant because you would see loads of people
02:38talking about different things.
02:38But you'd always remember that guy in the bright suit. He had this to say. So a clever technique.
02:42And of course, what he said, Stephen, was that, you know, by the time you see the light at the
02:47end of the tunnel, it is too late to buy already.
02:49I mean, that's something to remember. It's one of the things that, you know, his, you know, left us with
02:55apart from the dozens of books that he actually wrote.
02:59Yes. And then the fact that he's so open, like during our fireside chat, like we chat before the event
03:05saying that is there anything that I shouldn't ask anything that you want to be prepared.
03:09He said, no, challenge me. I can answer anything on stage live.
03:13Even back then market was talking about the cross drive relationship. He was like, yeah, hit me on Taiwan.
03:18I can talk about equities and companies over there as well. He's brilliant. And I took on board his advice
03:23when I'm doing TV like now, when I'm doing interviews, doing seminars.
03:27Brilliant folk. Yeah. An idol, a legend.
03:31Mark, your own takeaway from your interaction with challenge him to a weightlifting competition.
03:36You're going to lose. I ran into the gym one day and he called me over and he said, do
03:40you want to join me?
03:41And he I looked at this bar he was holding and it was so big. And I said, no, I
03:45think I just go and do the treadmill.
03:46And he is a brilliant man. I mean, he got scholarship to learn the Japanese language in Kyoto.
03:52I think he had a Ph.D. from MIT. And what I remember is that he did play the piano
03:58to help pay for his education.
04:00So a man who is really living life. I mean, he lived life and lived life to the fullest.
04:05Definitely. I wanted to get involved in the in the local culture, the local way things were done, which really
04:10gave you an advantage.
04:11So he would spend the time on the ground in the countries, get to know how things work.
04:15And that gives you a real insight into the thinking of the management of the different companies.
04:19So that helps him to feel a stronger base here of I really like this company because these various reasons.
04:25And you can hold that conviction even when things are moving around.
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