Emerging markets set to keep stock rallying in 2013

The breakneck rise of developed world stock markets this year is probably over, but major emerging markets will rally strongly from here after a poor start, according to a latest Reuters poll of 450 stock market strategists and fund managers from around the globe. Since the start of the year, many of the worlds's top stock markets have hit their highest levels since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. The US S&P 500 index came close to an all-time high in mid-March. But in many cases, the barnstorming rally bore no relation to economic performance and instead reflected the swathes of central bank cash flowing through the financial system. US federal spending cuts, plus the threat that the Euro zone's debt crisis might flare up again, will slow the rally for most major Western indexes. Emerging markets, which have struggled so far this year, will then pick up the baton (Click on graphics)