ASX-listed stocks ended the year on a relatively strong note, with the All Ordinaries Index rising 3.6% during December to be down 0.7% overall in calendar year 2010, following a strong 33.4% rise in 2009.
All other major global markets also rose during December including: the US up 6.5%; Canada up 3.8%; Germany up 3.4%; Japan up 2.9%; UK up 6.7%; Singapore up 1.4%; and Hong Kong up 0.1%.
Calendar year 2010 saw somewhat mixed performance across major markets. Some countries experienced a second year of strong growth to build on the excellent 2009 rebound. These included Germany up 16.1% in calendar year 2010 (up 23.8% in 2009); Canada up 14.4% (up 30.7%); Singapore up 10.1% (up 64.5%); the US up 12.8% (up 23.5%); the UK up 9.0% (up 22.1%); and Hong Kong up 5.3% (up 52.0%). Among major markets, in addition to Australia which was down marginally in 2010 following a strong rise in 2009, Japan fell 3.0% (up 19.0% in 2009.
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