Emerging markets

Published on January 8th, 2013 | by Louise Ramsay

Venezuela stock market best performer in 2012

Venezuela’s stock market rose by almost 300 per cent in 2012.

This comes as a surprise to many who may view the country’s ailing, anti-capitalist president Hugo Chavez as the least likely to spur economic growth.

But some say the rise in the Venezuelan market was due to expectations that Hugo Chávez would step down. The president, who regularly seizes company assets, has been receiving treatment for cancer.

Chavez however won another election in October, gaining popularity with voters by increased public spending, which boosted the country’s economy. The central bank said in December that Venezuela’s economy grew by 5.5 per cent in 2012 due to government investment on pensions and homes for the poor.

Since the election the Venezuelan stock market has lost some of its sparkle, but the nation has still beaten other global economies by some margin.

How everyone else did

Greece also surprised pundits as its widely expected exit from the eurozone was momentarily averted and bailout cash flowed in. The Athens market rose by 32.5 per cent last year.

The German market was another great performer – the Dax added 29.5 per cent. The rest of Europe was however more mixed due to the instability of the eurozone. France’s Cac finished 15.5 per cent higher, Italy rose 7.8 per cent, but troubled Spain was down 5 per cent.

Elsewhere, India added 25.7 per cent, South Africa was 23 per cent better and Russia rose 10.5 per cent. In Asia, the Hang Seng added 22.6 per cent, the Nikkei 225 rose 22 per cent and the Shanghai market 4.5 per cent.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial average added nearly 6 per cent, the S&P more than 11 per cent and the Nasdaq composite more than 12 per cent.

The FTSE 100 finished up 5.84 per cent.


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