Stock Markets in Emerging Nations Outperform Leaders

Stock markets in developing countries are booming, with many of them out-performing those in the United States and Japan, data compiled by the International Finance Corp. shows.

Turkey, Argentina, Taiwan and Thailand became the first, second, fourth and fifth best-performing stock markets in 1989 based on price index changes calculated in U.S. dollar terms, according to IFC, a Washington-based affiliate of the World Bank.

Turkey posted a gain of 300%; Argentina, 136%; Taiwan, 95%, and Thailand, 85%. Austria, the only industrialized nation in the top five (third) was up 101%.

The IFC said that overall, 19 developing world exchanges last year gained 47%, eclipsing the performance of markets in the United States (up 27%), England (up 21%) and Japan (up 12%).

“The emerging markets were clearly a big success, and the amount of investments flowing to those countries through these markets in the ‘80s was really quite staggering,” said IFC Executive Vice President Sir William Ryrie.