MSCI data shows strong market rebound in 2012

Global equity markets overcome the malaise of 2011 with a strong rebound in 2012, according to end-of-year data from index provider MSCI.

The London-based company said major financial markets worldwide had shown a marked improvement on their position 12 months earlier.

At the forefront of the fourth quarter data was the performance of the MSCI ACWI Investible Market Index, which is comprised of 9,000 large, mid and small-cap companies across 24 developed and 21 developing markets.

Over the period January 1 2012 to December 27 2012, this index rose 13.45%. This compares to a loss of 9.87% experienced in 2011.

Nearly all country and regional developed market indices delivered strong positive returns in the year-to-date, with the MSCI World Index and MSCI EAFE rising 13% and 13.96%, respectively.

One most drastic change in fortune was experienced in the financials-specific benchmark, the MSCI ACWI IMI/Financials. After falling 20.61% in 2011, it rebounded strongly to end 2012 up 24.13%.

The largest overall change was experienced by the MSCI Turkey Index, which had fallen 36.78% in 2011 but rose 60.59% in the past 12 months.

The MSCI Turkey Index along with the MSCI Egypt (46.9%) and MSCI Philippines (43.17%) Indices were the strongest performing benchmarks in the emerging markets segments.

At the other end of the spectrum, the MSCI Czech Republic (-3.49%), MSCI Brazil (-4.37%) and MSCI Morocco (-16.15%), were the only developing world indices to post negative figures in the latest data release.

Small cap-centric indices performed well on both a global and European basis. This saw the MSCI Europe Small Cap Index rise 25.76%, which was 10% greater than the MSCI Europe Index, and the MSCI World Small Cap Index rose 14.75%.

Top 10 performing MSCI indices according to Q4 data