World Markets Weekend Review: The Contraction Resumes

By Doug Short: The world rally continued this past week, but the momentum has eased. The eight indexes in our focus group posted an average gain of 0.64% for the week, about half the 1.25% gain from the previous weekly close. The global rotation changed conspicuously, with the four Asia-Pacific indexes occupying the top four slots, a complete reversal from what we saw last weekend. China's Shanghai Composite, the top weekly gainer last Friday, dropped to last place this week.

By Doug Short: We saw another strong performance from my focus group of eight world indexes. All finished with gains except for Germany's DAXK, which posted a fractional decline of 0.17%. But the Asia-Pacific four-pack took the top spots, with the China's Shanghai Composite as the standout with a 3.30% gain. India's SENSEX was a distant second with a 1.91% advance. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei both posted 1.45% and 1.03% gains, respectively.

The worldwide rally continued last week. Seven of the eight indexes on my watchlist posted big gains. The lone loser was the Shanghai Composite, down three percent (2.97% to be precise). How well did the other indexes perform? Well, the average of the seven winners was a three percent increase (2.99% at two decimal places). Germany's DAXK was the top finisher, up 4.5%. France's CAC 40 and Japan's Nikkei also finished with gains of more than four percent. The S&P 500's 1.74% gain was only good enough for sixth place.

Of eight indexes on my world watch, China's Shanghai Composite was the only one finishing the week with a gain, up a handsome 2.19%. All the others lost ground. The US's S&P 500 slipped slightly, down 0.24%. The other losers ranged from -1.49% for the UK's FTSE 100 to -3.56% for India's SENSEX. It's impossible to determine how much of the week's losses were attributable to the Cyprus Effect, but the three eurozone indexes, FTSE, DAXK and CAC 40 posted losses ranging from about 1.5% to 1.9%.

By Doug Short: The eight world indexes in my weekly review were certainly a mixed bag, with the Asia Pacific indexes showing a bit of manic-depressive disorder. Japan's Nikkei 225 was the hands-down top performer of the week, posting a 1.90% gain. At the other extreme, China's Shanghai Composite plummeted 4.68% following the week-long Spring Festival recess. Hong Kong's Hang Seng also had a bad week, down 2.82%. The three EU indexes joined the Nikkei with weekly gains.

By Doug Short: Four of the eight indexes on my world watch list are Asia-Pacific players, and over the past week we saw a rather extreme divide among them. At one end was Japan, where the Nikkei 225 rose 2.26% (on top of its previous week's 5.84% gain). At the other end India's SENSEX was down 1.30%, China's Shanghai fell 1'73% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 2.42%. The Western indexes were relatively clumped in between.

By Doug Short: Three indexes on my world watchlist ended the month of May with modest weekly gains. China's Shanghai Composite was the top performer, with a 0.53% advance. Germany's DAXK and India's SENSEX finished second and third-- with 0.36% and 0.28% gains, respectively. France's CAC 40 posted a fractional loss, and three indexes hovered around minus one percent. But Japan's Nikkei again posted a massive loss, down 5.73% for the week, and this on top of last week's 3.47% decline.

By Doug Short: As of Friday's close, the eight world indexes in my weekend update presented a mixed bag. The China's Shanghai Composite was the stellar standout, up 5.57%, a total reversal from its last-place finish the previous week. Japan's Nikkei 225 finished in distant second with a gain of 2.42% and the UK's FTSE 100 finished third, up one percent. The US's S&P 500 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng finished in the middle of the pack with similar modest gains, up 0.68% and 0.60% respectively.