Abu Dhabi (WAM)
Global stock markets announced the year “2022” with heavy losses, in light of growing investor fears about the global recession and the tightening of monetary policy to curb inflation, which has reached unprecedented levels in recent decades.
Chinese stocks suffered their worst year-on-year loss since 2018, influenced by several factors including the “Covid-19” policy, the real estate crisis and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy tightening, while Japanese stocks posted their first loss in 4 years, while European equities have achieved their worst performance since 2018 this year.
In European markets, the German DAX index decreased during 2022 by 12.3%, or 1961 points, to reach the level of 13923.59 points, from the previous level of 15884.86 points by the end of 2021 .
The European “Stoxx 600” index fell by 13.1%, equal to 63.8 points, reaching 424.89 points, compared to 488.71 points, while the “Euro Stoxx 50” index fell by 11.9%, equal to 512 points, closing at 3793.6 points, compared to 4306.07 points at the end of 2021.
The French “CAC” index lost 679 points, or 9.5%, to 6473.7 points, after trading at 7153.03 points at the end of last year, while the British “FTSE 100” index recorded the only increase among European markets, but with a slight increase of 0.9%, or 67 points, to reach the level of 7451.74 points, compared to the previous level of 7384.54 points. As for the Asian markets, the Japanese Nikkei index fell on the Tokyo Stock Exchange during the year 2022 by 9.4%, or the equivalent of 2697.2 points, to close at 26094.5 points, while the broader Topix index fell 5.1%, or 100.6 points, to reach 1891.7 points.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s “SSI” Composite Index fell 550.5 points or 15.1% to close at 3089.26 points, while the “Hang Seng” Index closed down 15.5% , equal to 3616.3 points, to reach the level of 19781.4 points.
