World equity markets battered

The world’s emerging and developed equity markets lost 10.56 per cent and 8.95 per cent respectively during the first three months of 2008, according to figures issued by Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

Released as part of S&P’s monthly global stock market review, ‘World by Numbers’, the losses were, perhaps unsurprisingly, attributed to the “market volatility and uncertainty of the first quarter”.

“This was fuelled by near record commodity prices, 10-year US treasury rates near their lowest level, a struggling dollar and the potential global impact of a perceived US recession,” senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt said.

All but one developed equity market posted a positive return in the first quarter, while 15 of the 26 emerging world equity markets lost ground during the quarter, he said.

Of the 26 developed markets, only Luxembourg (+2.09 per cent) gained ground during the first quarter. The hardest hit markets over the first quarter were Iceland (-32.36 per cent), Hong Kong (-18.07 per cent) and Greece (-14.90 per cent).

The best performing emerging markets during the first quarter were Morocco (+23.81 per cent), Pakistan (+10.25 per cent) and Chile (+8.50 per cent).

The worst performers were Turkey (-36.62 per cent), India (-28.55 per cent) and China (-24.65 per cent).