Emerging-market stock index falls back below its 200-day average

(June 15): So the emerging-market rally wasn’t so unstoppable after all.

Though nobody was betting that June wouldn’t produce its own trials and turns at some point, the manner of last week’s retreat in risk assets has left investors trying to decipher whether it’s a sign of things to come or just an opportunity to reflect on the strides taken so far.

The MSCI Inc.’s emerging-markets stocks index dropped 1.8% on Monday, extending last week’s decline of 1.6%, while a similar gauge of currencies slipped 0.3%. The equity index now looks to have failed in its attempt to hold meaningfully above the 200-day average, after rising above it last week for the first time in three months.