The BRIC nations increasingly look like they will no longer be the building blocks of international investing.

As a group, Brazil, Russia, India and China have been seen as the collective pillar of emerging market growth, leading to an exodus of money from U.S. stocks and into global equities.

But signs indicate that trade has begun to run its course, and investors are looking for opportunity elsewhere.

"The BRIC economies have been the brightest stars of the emerging world since the year 2000, contributing nearly two-fifths of global growth. More recently, they have been sources of disappointment," Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, said in a report for clients.

(Read More: CNBC Explains the BRICs)

Williams pointed to weakness in each of the countries: Debt is dragging on Brazil; Russia's commodities boom is constrained by weak business investment; India's efforts at modernization and open market reform have waned, and China has not succeeded yet in transforming to a consumer-driven economy.