Investing January 2, 2003

December Not-So-Good for FTSE4Good Index

January 2, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The FTSE4Good Global index ended December down 6.0%, bringing 2002 overall returns down 22.3% and the FTSE4Good US Index depressed 24.3%.
Reported by

Good performance from Asian/African FTSE4Good stocks allowed the Index to outperform its benchmark during December, although December overall ended up lower. The best performing global sector in December was   Tobacco, the worst, Information Technology Hardware.

Overall the returns were relatively consistent with major US stock indexes.  Worst hit was the NASDAQ which lost 9.69% (its worst December ever), but the Dow lost 6.23% and the S&P 500 was 6.03% lower (the worst December since 1931 for those two). The Russell 2000 fell 5.72% and the Wilshire 5000 closed the month 5.69% lower. 

Also in December, FTSE4Good USA index was down 7.7%; Europe was lower by 9.3% and the UK was off by 5.8%, according to FTSE data.

The Good & Bad

FTSE data showed that the top-five individual stocks in the Global Index with their December performance included:

  • Leif Hoegh & Co, 25.2%
  • Erste Bank Der Osterreichischer, 24.3%
  • BC Gas, 20.3%
  • Severn Trent, 15.7%
  • Sky City Entertainment Group, 14.7%.

The five worst Global Index performers and their December figures included:

  • Cable & Wireless, -43.5%
  • Micro Technology, -38.4%
  • Fred Olsen Energy, -32.6%
  • Juniper Networks, -30.2%
  • MLP Ord, -29.1%.

Top US Performers

The top December performers in the FTSE4Good US index included:

  • Goodrich, 14.3%
  • Sunoco, 12.1%
  • Aetna, 8.9%
  • Citizens Communications, 7.0%
  • SLM Corp, 6.3%

FTSE4Good is an index series for socially responsible investment designed to facilitate investment in companies with good records of corporate social responsibility, FTSE said.

«