MSCI: China Tops Charts As Best Performing Country Year-to-date
China is the best performing country year to date according to the MSCI index rankings
Chinese stockmarkets have soared ahead of other regions, according to the latest MSCI indices rankings, returning almost 50% year-to-date, more than double the MSCI ACWI return of 20%.
The latest report by MSCI, which looks at the best and worst performing indices on a monthly basis revealed Korea to be the best performing country for October, having returned 8.4%.
But China continues to be the best performer over three months (+9.5%), year-to-date (+49.1%), one (+41.3%) and three (+12.7%) years.
The country has also consistently outperformed the MSCI All Country World Index over these time periods.
Meanwhile, Switzerland was the worst performing country during October, down 1.7%, but Canada is the worst performer year to date, up by only 11.7%.
MSCI: European equity indices outpace Asian peers in September
The US continues to be the most expensively-valued country with an average forward P/E of 18.4, while the cheapest is Korea at 9.2. The ACWI has a forward P/E of 16.3.
In sector terms, the best performer was once again information technology in October (+7.1%), which is also the best performing sector year-to-date with a return of 40.8%.
The sector has also been the best performer over one (+40.7%), three (+19.1%) and five (+20.1%) years, followed during most of these periods by the consumer discretionary sector.
The worst sector last month was telecom services, having made a loss of 2.5%, but the worst performer year to date is energy, with a return of just 1.6%.
Returns and valuations
| 1 month | 3 month | YTD | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korea | 8.4 | 7.9 | 43.5 | 41.1 | 11.9 | 8.1 |
| Japan | 4.6 | 6.7 | 19.9 | 18.2 | 10.2 | 12.3 |
| China | 4.0 | 9.5 | 49.1 | 41.3 | 12.7 | 10.9 |
| USA | 2.3 | 4.7 | 17.0 | 23.5 | 10.6 | 15.1 |
| ACWI | 2.1 | 4.6 | 20.2 | 23.9 | 8.5 | 11.4 |
| Germany | 1.5 | 7.4 | 26.9 | 30.8 | 9.7 | 10.6 |
| France | 1.5 | 7.0 | 29.8 | 34.6 | 10.9 | 11.7 |
| Austrailia | 1.4 | 0.2 | 14.1 | 17.4 | 1.7 | 3.9 |
| UK | 0.6 | 3.2 | 16.4 | 21.7 | 1.8 | 5.0 |
| Canada | -0.2 | 3.8 | 11.7 | 16.6 | 1.7 | 3.4 |
| Switzerland | -1.7 | -0.6 | 19.4 | 21.4 | 4.5 | 9.4 |
Valuation ratios as of 31 October 2017. Source: MSCI
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