Forget sizzling China or bubbling Brazil. This year’s best performing stock market is in fact Peru. Equity bulls, more rampant than machos on an alpaca farm, have driven up the Lima general index by 104 per cent.

Civil unrest has not deterred them. The economy is expected to grow this year. Last year’s fiscal surplus is being deployed to stimulative effect. And while interest rates have been slashed, inflation remains low, unlike the last time Alan García was president, when it topped 7,000 per cent.

The boom is due to the resource companies that dominate the local market. Peru is the world’s third-largest copper, zinc and tin producer, and the largest silver miner. Newly-launched exchange-traded funds would be the easiest way for foreign punters to join the independence day celebrations on Tuesday.

Source: http://www.ft.com/