“2006 became a banner year for shareholders, as most markets continued to gain in December,” says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor’s. “Oil prices stabilised and broke under the $60 mark, as warmer weather decreased demand.”
In December, 24 of the 27 developed markets posted an average gain of 4.29%, with declines in Canada (-0.54%), Iceland (-0.35%) and South Korea (-0.01%). The emerging markets posted gains in 22 of the 26 markets with an average of 6.30%. The declines were more substantial in the emerging markets with Israel (-1.53%), Jordan (-3.00%), Pakistan (-6.40%) and Thailand (-9.24%).
For the year, all 27 developed markets gained with an average of 35.15%, while 23 of the 26 emerging markets gained an average of 45.46%. The markets that were down for the year include Israel (-3.46%), Jordan (-35.56%) and Turkey (-2.04%).
Eight out of the 10 sectors showed gains in December, with telecommunications as the best-performing sector gaining 3.65%, and energy as the worst with a 1.47% decline. For 2006, utilities was the best sector with 36.92%, while information technology was the worst at 9.49%.
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