Emerging markets overall bested the performance of the world's developed markets during the first quarter, data from Morgan Stanley Capital International show. In dollar terms, the 22-country MSCI Emerging Markets Free Index climbed 5.8% during the quarter, vs. a 3.7% gain by the MSCI World Index and a 2.5% rise by the EAFE index.
But during March, the EAFE index's performance outpaced the world and emerging markets indexes.
The strongest developed markets for the quarter were Malaysia, up 14.2%; Hong Kong, up 10.9%; and Sweden, 9.2%. Among emerging markets, Turkey was first for the quarter, up 34.4%, followed by Poland, 32.5%.