Mexico, overshadowed by Brazil for years, has secured its place as the new favorite among investors looking to put cash into Latin America.
"A lot of funds are looking into Latin America as sort of a portfolio of opportunities. Brazil became a lot less attractive in the last year and a half," said in an interview Clinton Carter, director of research at Frontier Strategy Group. "Mexico has definitely come up as a priority."
In the past 12 months, iShares MSCI Mexico Capped exchange-traded fund rose more than 17 percent, when a fund trailing Brazil—iShares MSCI Brazil Capped Index Fund—lost over 15 percent.
"The mood in Mexico is clearly constructive. A lot of faith is being put in the ongoing reform process under President Pena Nieto, including deregulation of key industries," wrote Jens Nordvig, global head of currency strategy at Nomura Securities in a recent note.
Investors have been encouraged by signs that the new Mexican president will continue to push for economic change. Its congress has already approved labor and education reforms and a long-awaited telecommunication bill came through in March to bring competition into a highly concentrated industry.
Other key reforms—fiscal, financial and energy—are expected to come through this year as well, Nordvig says.