Global Markets Rebound in April

May 1, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Global markets rebounded in April following the surprise interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve, with gains recorded on most exchanges.

Winners

Numbers from index firm FTSE show Turkey as the month’s star performer, surging by 45.7%. Confidence was restored by negotiations with multilateral funding agencies following Turkey’s recent liquidity crisis and currency devaluation.

Other strong returns came from Finland, the second best performer, which rose 33.8% following a rally in telecom shares.

Throughout Europe, technology stocks returned to positive territory, led by software and computer services and information technology hardware.

The largest gains were made by Germany’s SAP, Europe’s largest software company, when first quarter results were way ahead of expectations.

Losers

Markets that performed negatively this month were chiefly in Asia, where ongoing political instability in Indonesia and the Philippines have continued to plague the markets.

Also contributing was the US slowdown which led to a drop in demand for exports from Malaysia and Taiwan.

Foreign investors shifted their Asia allocations towards China, which increased 10.8%, despite negative news resulting from the US surveillance plane incident.

The worst performing sector was transport, which posted a minus 2.2% return, held back by the UK’s Railtrack, which languished due to financial difficulties and restructuring plans.

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