Investors bought US$3.7 billion of Sao Paulo-based Bovespa's shares on expectations Latin America's fastest-growing bourse will keep expanding after trading jumped sixfold since 2000. BM&F tapped into that demand when it raised US$3.4 billion last week.

The performance of exchanges has "nothing whatsoever to do with the level or direction of stock prices," said Lawrence Goldstein, general partner at Santa Monica Partners LP in Larchmont, New York, who manages about US$200 million and holds shares of NYSE Euronext, owner of the New York Stock Exchange. "As long as stocks or derivatives trade, you're in heaven."

Bolsa Mexicana, Mexico's biggest stock exchange, will pique investor interest when it sells shares in early 2008 because bourses tend to be profitable, said Gerardo Copca, equity analyst at financial consulting firm Metanalisis in Mexico City.

XTEP (China) hired New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co and Zurich-based UBS AG in August to help arrange a US$300-million IPO, making it one of about 100 companies located in Brazil, Russia, India and China that have pending offerings, figures compiled by Bloomberg show.

China Growth

China Dongxiang, located in Beijing, rose since its debut on speculation increased employment will boost the buying power of the nation's consumers. China's retail sales in October rose at the fastest pace in eight years as consumers in the world's fastest-growing major economy got richer and inflation accelerated, according to government data.

Expectations for gains in the newest emerging-market stocks may be too sanguine. BM&F sold shares for 36 times estimated 2009 earnings, while Bovespa's price-to-earnings ratio is 30, according to London-based Victoire Finance Capital. That compares with the S&P 500's P/E of 18.

Pretty Expensive