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Japan will continue to underperform its medium-term inflation
target for yet some time to come. Owing to uncertainties over
British-EU relationships in the post-Brexit landscape and the
resulting weakness in the pound, it is forecast that inflation in
the UK will fall below the 2% target set for 2017 and 2018 but
that it may achieve it in the years that follow.
Although developing countries’ capital markets generated
higher yields in 2016, there were some improvements to be
seen in those of developed countries.
According to figures published by the World Federation of
Exchanges, the aggregate market value of the world’s capital
markets amounted to USD 67.1 trillion as of end-2015; in the
twelve months to end-2016, that figure slipped slightly to
USD 65.9 trillion.
Looking at market value on a regional basis we see that US
exchanges were the best performers with their combined
market value increasing by 10.8% year-on to USD 31 trillion in
2016.
Exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region by contrast saw their
combined market value fall by 18.5% to USD 18.9 trillion.
European, African, and Middle East markets registered a barely
perceptible 0.5% rise year-on and amounted to USD 16.9
trillion in value.
The exchange that registered the highest twelve-month
increase in its market value on a percentage basis was the
Belarus Currency & Stock Exchange, whose market value shot
up by 132% to USD 1.2 billion last year. That was followed
in quick succession by TROP-X (Seychelles) with the Moscow
Exchange and BM&F BOVESPA (Sao Paulo) coming in a
distant third and fourth place with rises of 61.7% and 57.8%
respectively.
The exchange which suffered the biggest twelve-month
percentage loss was Nigeria’s, which saw its market value
plummet by 42.2% from USD 50 billion in December 2015 to
USD 28.9 billion in December 2016.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange was followed by the nearly equally
dismally-performing Egyptian Exchange (down 41.8% year-on).
Coming in third and fourth places were the Ukrainian Exchange
(down 22.1%) and Borsa İstanbul, whose market value fell by
16.5% to USD 157.7 billion.
Long the world’s biggest stock exchange in terms of total
market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange easily
maintained that standing in 2016. The market capitalization of
its listed companies, which amounted to about USD 17.8 trillion
at end-2015, increased by 10% to USD 19.6 trillion over the
next twelve months.
NASDAQ OMX saw its aggregate market value increase by 6.8%
to USD 7.8 trillion in the twelve months to end-2016 while the
market capitalization of the Japan Exchange Group increased
by 3.4% to USD 5.6 trillion during the same period.
EUR/USD Parity
01/2016
02/2016
03/2016
04/2016
05/2016
06/2016
07/2016
08/2016
09/2016
10/2016
11/2016
12/2016
1.1600
1.1400
1.1200
1.1000
1.0800
1.0600
1.0400
1.0200
1.0000
The Association of Financial Institutions
Annual Report 2016
35