12 June 2009

World's best-performing stock markets

World's best-performing stock markets


World's best-performing stock markets of 2009


On January 8, 2008, history was made as the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index (Sensex) hit the magic 21,000-mark! Just about 18 years ago on July 25, 1990, the Sensex touched the magical four-digit figure for the first time and closed at 1,001 in the wake of a good monsoon and excellent corporate results.

But within two weeks of touching 21,000 the fairy tale ended, and on January 21, 2008 the Sensex registered the first-ever four digit loss when it plunged 1,408 points to close the day at 17,605.

Since then the slide was steeper till it almost plunged below 7,000.

At its peak in October 2007, global equity, or the market capitalisation of all companies in world stock markets, stood at $62.5 trillion, close to that year's world GDP figure of $65 trillion.

Then the American sub-prime crisis hit the shores, banks collapsed and financial institutions went belly-up.

A jaw-dropping $37 trillion of wealth in the form of market cap was wiped out in 18 months up to the multi-year lows that were reached on March 9, 2009. That was 59 per cent of public company values, or $25.5 trillion.

Since then, however, equity values have risen 37 per cent - a wealth-growth of $9.5 trillion - to just over $37 trillion.

Almost all markets fell in 2008. According to a report by EconomyWatch, 62 markets out of the 83 studied are now up.

Read on to find out more...


The stock exchange of Lima, Peru.


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World's best-performing stock markets of 2009


Peru

2009 growth: 72.92%
Decline from 52-week high: -31.94%

The Bolsa de Valores de Lima, the stock exchange of Peru has several indices. The IGBVL (Indice General Bolsa de Valores) is a value-weighted index that tracks the performance of the largest and most actively traded stocks on the Lima exchange.

Peru's economy has shown strong growth over the past seven years, averaging 6.8 per cent a year, helped by market-oriented economic reforms and privatisations in the 1990s.

Its GDP grew 9.8 per cent in 2008 to $127.8 billion.

Note: All stock market figures are till May 25, 2009



Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange.


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World's best-performing stock markets of 2009


Russia

2009 growth: 53.33%
Decline from 52-week high: -61.22%

The Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange or MICEX is one of the largest universal stock exchanges in the Russian Federation and East Europe. MICEX opened in 1992 and is the leading Russian stock exchange, consisting of shares and corporate bonds of about 600 Russian companies.

After a massive sell-off last year pushed the valuations of Russian companies to record lows, rising energy prices in recent months have drawn investors back into the market.

In May 2009, the Micex index of major Russian company shares, was up about 105 per cent after bottoming out on October 27.

Russia's economy shrank by 7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2009. Unemployment was up, at 8.5 per cent in February, the highest level since January 2005.



Image: Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange.


A man speaks on a phone in front of a bronze replica of a bull at the gates of Bombay Stock Exchange.


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World's best-performing stock markets of 2009


India

2009 growth: 48.25%
Decline from 52-week high: -18.26%

Bombay Stock Exchange, Asia's oldest bourse, is 133 years old and had a market capitalisation of $1.79 trillion (December 31, 2007).

BSE is the world's number 1 exchange in terms of the number of listed companies and the world's 5th in transaction numbers.

Braving the global recessionary trends, India managed 6.7 per cent economic growth in 2008-09 despite the manufacturing sector recording a dismal performance.

A 5.8 per cent growth rate during the last quarter of the fiscal, at a time when most developed economies have shrunk, puts India among the top-most growing nations.

Inflation slipped to 0.13 per cent, the lowest ever in over three decades even as prices of essential food items turned dearer.



Image: A man speaks on a phone in front of a bronze replica of a bull at the gates of Bombay Stock Exchange.
Photograph: Arko Datta/Reuters




The Shanghai stock exchange.


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World's best-performing stock markets of 2009


China

2009 growth: 47.01%
Decline from 52-week high: -26.30%

The Shanghai Composite Index, the benchmark for the Chinese domestic market, rose six-fold in just over two years, starting in mid-2005, before a yearlong drop starting in late 2007 that left it about 70 per cent lower. It is up 52 per cent in 2009,

China's 2009 real GDP is seen to grow by just 6.5 per cent. Growth will recover in 2010, but only to 7.3 per cent.

The economy will be supported by a rapid expansion of government infrastructure spending and policies to revive housing investment.

The outlook for exports is poor, but falling commodity prices will also depress imports


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Source:Rediff, ET.