As confidence returns, investors are becoming more prepared to bet on the developing world.

EMERGING-MARKET investments are again in the news as a cautious appetite for risk returns to global markets.

Not so long ago emerging markets - such as the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) - were all the rage. However, once the global financial crisis took hold interest began to wane as investors lost their appetite for volatility.

Some authoritative bodies such as the FTSE differentiate between advanced emerging markets and secondary emerging markets where factors such as infrastructure and gross domestic product are taken into account.

With this in mind where exactly does Cambodia fit in? Well, the short answer is that Cambodia is not an emerging market yet. Cambodia is considered a pre-emerging market or a "frontier market". It is, however, expected to graduate to emerging-market status once the Cambodian stock exchange has started up.

Emerging and frontier markets anywhere can make for a bumpy ride.

Vietnam last year saw the VN Index fall 66 percent, then rebound 60 percent in the second quarter as Asia's best performer.

It is now therefore back in favour following strong GDP results from April.

A recent poll conducted by Bloomberg on emerging and frontier markets showed that investors were still willing to take on risk and are particularly interested in hunting for opportunities in China and India - 40 percent of those who took part believed that the most profit could be made by investing in emerging markets.

However, remember that emerging markets can go down as well as up.

Trevor Keidan is managing director of Infinity Financial Solutions. Should you wish to contact Trevor send an email to [email protected].