Bulls heading for Russian pastures

Mobius says nation can't be overlooked, offers opportunities

MOSCOW: Russia is the top investment pick for the biggest emerging-market stock funds in 2010, even after the RTS Index's world-beating 129 percent rally prompted Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to say shares are too expensive.

Russia is the leading "overweight" holding among the world's largest developing-nation mutual funds, EPFR Global data show. More than 95 percent of analyst ratings on Russian stocks are "buy" or "hold", the highest level since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 1997. Goldman Sachs Group Inc says Russia is the most attractive emerging market for 2010 and Troika Dialog, the nation's oldest investment bank, predicts equities will climb about 40 percent.