as emerging markets were roiled by president-elect donald trump <u+2019>s victory early<u+00a0>wednesday, at least one surprising region seemed to shrug off the vote: eastern europe. the impact of the election was particularly clear in russia, where the ruble rose by more than 1% against the dollar, compared with a fall of 1.7% for the brazilian real, 1.8% for the south african rand and 8.05% for the battered mexican peso. <u+201c>russia may benefit from today<u+2019>s result should the u.s. start easing financial sanctions,<u+201d> said claudia calich, manager of m&g emerging market bond fund, in an email. mr. trump has<u+00a0>argued for a closer relationship between the u.s. and russian governments. the micex index of russian stocks was a green speck in a sea of red markets<u+00a0>on wednesday, rising by 1.39%. global stocks sold off almost everywhere else in the world. but other countries in eastern europe, which have traditionally relied on implicit u.s. protection and therefore seem to have much more to lose from mr. trump<u+2019>s election, seemed relatively unfazed<u+00a0>on wednesday. the president-elect<u+2019>s foreign policy stance could have major geopolitical impact in the region, with a more isolationist<u+00a0>outlook on international affairs. mr. trump argued in apri l<u+00a0>that many nato countries are <u+201c>not paying their fair share,<u+201d> and suggested in an august interview that russia doesn<u+2019>t have a military presence in ukraine. polish, czech and hungarian currencies were little moved against the dollar in trading<u+00a0>wednesday.<u+00a0>the polish zloty fell 0.4% against the dollar, the czech koruna fell 0.24% and hungarian forint actually rose by 0.1%. <u+201c>markets, and em [emerging markets] in particular, are holding up better than i expected,<u+201d> said viktor szabo, a senior portfolio manager at aberdeen asset management . stocks sold off slightly in some eastern european countries, but not notably more than in developed europe. hungary<u+2019>s bux was down<u+00a0>0.46%and poland<u+2019>s was down 0.58%. but those countries show no more sign of being affected than others, and have exhibited nothing like the exposure that the mexican peso has seen . analysts and investors had a consensus explanation for the lack of a reaction in eastern european assets. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s a certain risk to donald trump<u+2019>s stance on russia and nato members having to contribute more,<u+201d> said jakob ekholdt christensen, head of emerging market research at danske bank , speaking<u+00a0>on wednesday<u+00a0>morning. <u+201c>but these countries are more economically exposed to europe and have less exposure to trade with the united states.<u+201d> the mexican peso was most obviously impacted by mr. trump<u+2019>s surprise victory, due to the country<u+2019>s very close economic links to the united states. <u+201c>em is looking massively more robust than i would have guessed,<u+201d><u+00a0>said paul mcnamara, emerging market investment director at gam.<u+00a0><u+201c>i<u+2019>m very surprised.<u+201d> write to mike bird at mike.bird@wsj.com and christopher whittall at christopher.whittall@wsj.com
trump<u+2019>s win boosts eastern europe markets  - wsj
mike bird christopher whittall