Investors in emerging-market stocks have profited this year by staying away from China. 

The MSCI China Index is down 8% this year through Nov. 15, while a broader emerging-markets benchmark that excludes China has risen 8% over the same period. Chinese stocks have been weighed down by the country’s shaky economic reopening, a pullback by foreign portfolio managers and an increasing reluctance among the country’s small investors to buy stocks.