(July 6, 2012) — Equities in only five countries across the globe provided positive returns in the second quarter of the year and none of these were in developed market economies, according to indexes run by MSCI.
Investors holding equities listed in Kenya and the Philippines saw the highest returns – 7.07% and 3.31% – over the second three months of the year, MSCI reported. These markets are stationed in the frontier and emerging economies respectively.
The only additional positive performances came from other frontier markets. MSCI indexes tracking equities in Nigeria, Bahrain and Vietnam produced 3.17%, 2.43% and 0.39% respectively over the second three months of the year.
The top performing developed market, which only lost 1.75%, was Belgium. Denmark and the United States came just behind, with a 3.32% and 3.55% loss respectively.
The worst performing market in this category was Greece with a 30.83% slump over the quarter.
The report from MSCI said: “In the face of the high volatility that roiled global equity markets, the MSCI Minimum Volatility Indices showed modest Q2 2012 outperformance relative to their traditional, market cap weighted parent indices.”
The MSCI All Countries World Index produced a 6.36% loss, whereas the same index with minimised volatility only lost 0.21%.
Similarly, the MSCI World Index lost 5.82% compared to the equivalent with minimised volatility, which lost 0.37% over the same time period.
Full historical data can be found here.