Philippines one of Top 10 best stock markets worldwide

James Ryan Jonas

The Philippine stock market registered one of the highest gains worldwide in 2012, ending with a full-year return of 32.95%. This earned the Philippines the 9th spot, out of a hundred countries, in terms of stock market performance based on preliminary data from Bloomberg.

The 32.95% return means if you invested in the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) from the start of the year, your P100,000 would now be worth P132,950.

The 2012 PSEi performance was a strong uptrend from the modest 4.07% gain in 2011 (See Top 10 Best and Worst PSE index stocks – 2011). This return is one of the best in Southeast Asia, ranking second to Thailand’s stock market performance of 35.80%.

Worldwide, though, the top performer was the Venezuelan stock market, posting a whopping 302.81% gain in 2012.

In the Philippine stock market, the Financials, Property and Holding Firms sectors led gainers in 2012. Top decliner was the Mining and Oil sector that registered the only negative growth at -17.43%.

The comparative 2012 and 2011 PSE index and industry sector performance is as follows.

PSE Index and Sector Performance, 2012 vs. 2011

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The best and worst performing stock markets worldwide are shown below.

Top 10 Gainers – World Stock Markets (2012)

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Top 10 Losers – World Stock Markets (2012)

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We will also release this week a list of best-performing PSE stocks based on full-year return. Subscribe to us by leaving your email address below to receive an update.

James Ryan Jonas teaches business management, investments, and entrepreneurship at the University of the Philippines (UP). He is also the Executive Director of UP Provident Fund Inc., managing and investing P3.2 Billion ($56.4 Million) worth of retirement funds on behalf of thousands of UP employees.