LJ

Resource-Rich Countries Fare Worse In Global Credit Crunch

I think it has something to do with the currency yield. High-yielding currencies tend to attract carry traders, including the hedge funds and leveraged mutual funds. Carry trades tend to destablize the exchange rate between a high-yielding currencies and yen.

China is a country rich with resources, but the financial problems in the US didn't seem to affect China very much. I presume this was due to the fact that hedge funds have no access to the Chinese stock markets.