They join Brazil, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, South Africa and Taiwan in this classification, which is used for the FTSE Global Equity Index series. Chief executive of the FTSE Group Mark Makepeace said their promotion was due to significant changes to their regulations and investment procedures.
Performance of MSCI indices over 3-yrs
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Bentley Jennison senior investment consultant, Chris Wise said their inclusion could potentially have an affect on long-term investment strategies although he remains cautious about their long-term potential.
"Last year Africa was seen as the major investment opportunity and now has been replaced by other countries", said Wise.
Wise said China, which is classified lower as a 'Secondary Emerging' economy by FTSE, is still a more attractive investment opportunity and he does not expect the upgraded markets to have the same level of influence as the BRIC economies.
"Ultimately investment is driven not by the rating but by the investment opportunities", said Wise.
Turkey especially looks a much more inviting opportunity than the more mature European economies such as Spain and France, according to Wise.
AFH head of investment research Graham Toone, said although growth in the emerging economies was good globally in the short-term, he was leaving it up to individual investment managers to decide whether to invest in these three upgraded markets.
Over the next year, Taiwan is expected to be promoted to a 'Developed' economy and Thailand is set to be classified as 'Advanced Emerging'.
Ghana and Kazakhstan are predicted to join the list as 'Frontier' economies while Kuwait may jump ahead of them to become a 'Secondary Emerging' economy.
Greece and Columbia are on the watch list to be demoted.
Makepeace said the promotion of Malaysia and the inclusion of Thailand on the watch list highlighted the encouraging progress in South East Asian financial markets. The FTSE Country Classification is designed to provide a rating for over 70 countries based in the quality of investment infrastructure for international investors.