The emerging markets sell-off intensified on Monday with stocks heading for their worst day in almost half a year even before Latin American bourses opened, and currencies weakened further, including the Turkish lira hitting a new low against the dollar. Investors have become concerned about the prospects of emerging markets as growth slows in China, the world’s second-largest economy and the US Federal Reserve scales back its quantitative easing. The Fed’s asset purchases were a key feature in the rise of emerging market asset prices over the past five years. The FTSE Emerging Markets index slumped 1.9 per cent in early trading – its biggest one-day drop since August 27. Hong Kong’s market fell 2.1 per cent, Taiwan’s tumbled 1.6 per cent, and Indonesia’s dropped 2.6 per cent. “At the moment you can’t stop the rot,” said Christian Lawrence, strategist at Rabobank. “The momentum is with the continued sell-off […]