Fig. 1

Average returns and standard deviation (SD) for portfolios and regions. Note This figure presents the average returns and risks individual nations under the high-low correlation strategy where equity portfolios for each country are chosen based on correlation with the rest of the emerging markets. Correlations between (i) and (j) markets are reported in Additional file 1: Table S1. Yellow portfolio captures correlation of less than zero; Blue portfolio captures correlation between zero to 0.1; Purple portfolio captures correlation between 0.2 and 0.3; Green portfolio covers correlation between 0.4 and 0.5; the Red portfolio stock consists of correlations of 0.6 or more. Individual country outcomes in Table 1 are used here to derive: (1) an average of each of the four portfolios (rows 3–6); and (2) an average of each of the four portfolios by regions