Top Gainers and Losers – World Stock Market Index (2012 1H)

As Europe finds itself being stuck in bigger economic turmoil, investors are moving out of the Eurozone and dumping their money in emerging markets where risks are relatively lower but with yields that are more promising.

Benefiting from the outflow of investors’ cash in problem-laden North America and Europe are emerging markets such as Venezuela, Pakistan, Turkey, the Philippines, and Estonia whose stock markets posed the highest returns during the first six months of 2012.

Below is a complete list of the year-to-date performance of stock markets around the world.

The Caracas Stock Exchange of Venezuela posted the highest returns among all stock market indices worldwide, rising 110.58% – basically doubling one’s money in just 6 months. Market analysts attribute this spike to a deluge of foreign cash into the country following President Hugo Chavez’s announcement this year that he has cancer. Analysts see Chavez losing in another bout of presidential elections in October 2012, paving the way for a long-awaited change in administration.  

The Philippines is 4th in terms of performance, with the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rising 20.89% year-to-date. The country benefited from strong economic fundamentals and ratings upgrades from various credit rating agencies.

Top losers, as expected, are from the European region. The stock market of Spain, a country which analysts say would soon face an “inevitable government bailout,” declined 27.89%.

Other European countries facing debt and economic problems, such as Italy, Portugal, and Greece, also posted negative growth rates in the 1st half of the year.

Stock Markets Performance around the World
(YTD as of July 20, 2012)

Rank	Country	Stock Market	Index	YTD % Return
1	Venezuela	Caracas Stock Exchange	IBVC	110.58%
2	Pakistan	Karachi Stock Exchange	KSE100	28.35%
3	Turkey	Istanbul Stock Exchange	XU100	21.86%
4	Philippines	Philippine Stock Exchange	PSEi	20.89%
5	Estonia	Tallinn Stock Exchange	NASDAQ OMX TALLINN	20.63%
6	Thailand	Stock Exchange of Thailand	SET	19.40%
7	Denmark	Copenhagen Stock Exchange	KAX	18.98%
8	Iceland	OMX Iceland Stock Exchange	ICEXI	15.86%
9	Singapore	Singapore Exchange	FSSTI	12.70%
10	Mexico	Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (Mexican Stock Exchange)	MEXBOL	10.44%
11	Norway	Oslo Stock Exchange	OBX	9.95%
12	Belgium	Euronext Brussel	BEL20	9.77%
13	India	Bombay Stock Exchange	SENSEX	9.20%
14	Romania	Bucharest Stock Exchange	BET-10	9.19%
15	Germany	Frankfurt Stock Exchange	DAX	8.83%
16	Colombia	Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (Colombia Stock Exchange)	IGBC	8.35%
17	Ireland	Irish Stock Exchange	ISEQ	7.94%
18	Poland	Warsaw Stock Exchange	WIG	7.53%
19	South Africa	Johannesburg Stock Exchange	JALSH	7.00%
20	Malaysia	Bursa Malaysia	KLCI	6.89%
21	New Zealand	New Zealand Stock Market	NZSE50FG	5.82%
22	United States	NYSE / NASDAQ	DJIA	5.66%
23	Indonesia	Indonesia Stock Exchange	JCI	4.91%
24	Switzerland	SIX Swiss Exchange	SMI	4.11%
25	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Stock Exchange	SASEIDX	3.86%
26	Latvia	Riga Stock Exchange	NASDAQ OMX RIGA	3.85%
27	Chile	Santiago Stock Exchange	IGPA	3.61%
28	Sweden	Stockholm Stock Exchange	OMX	3.44%
29	Hong Kong	Hong Kong Stock Exchange	HSI	3.36%
30	Peru	Bolsa de Valores de Lima	IGBVL	2.82%
31	United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange	UANBGENL	2.72%
32	Austria	Wiener Borse (Vienna Stock Exchange)	WBI	2.64%
33	Netherlands	Euronext Amsterdam	AEX	2.33%
34	Hungary	Budapest Stock Exchange	BUX	2.24%
35	Luxembourg	Luxembourg Stock Exchange	LUXXX	1.95%
36	Australia	Australian Securities Exchange	S&P/ASX 200 INDEX (AS51)	1.78%
37	Russia	Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS	INDEXCF	0.94%
38	Taiwan	Taiwan Stock Exchange	TAIEX	0.78%
39	Japan	Tokyo Stock Exchange	NIKKEI 225	0.63%
40	United Kingdom	London Stock Exchange	UKX	-0.69%
41	Argentina	Buenos Aires Stock Exchange	MERVAL	-1.05%
42	China	Shanghai Stock Exchange	SHCOMP	-1.40%
43	Czech Republic	Prague Stock Exchange	PX	-1.44%
44	France	Euronext Paris	CAC	-1.84%
45	South Korea	Korea Exchange	KOSPI	-1.99%
46	Canada	Toronto Stock Exchange	S&P/TSX	-3.43%
47	Israel	Tel Aviv Stock Exchange	TA-25	-3.94%
48	Finland	Helsinki Stock Exchange	HEX25	-5.44%
49	Euro Area	Eurozone Area	SX5E	-5.92%
50	Brazil	Sao Paulo Stock, Mercantile & Futures Exchange	IBOV	-6.55%
51	Bulgaria	Bulgarian Stock Exchange	SOFIX	-7.04%
52	Greece	Athens Stock Exchange	ASE	-7.29%
53	Slovenia	Ljubljana Stock Exchange	SBITOP	-12.38%
54	Portugal	Euronext Lisbon	PSI20	-13.47%
55	Italy	Borsa Italiana	FTSEMIB	-15.79%
56	Spain	Bolsa de Madrid	IBEX	-27.89%

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