Emerging Markets Best Performer in 2006

The world’s emerging and developed markets continued to stay in positive territory in December, making a full year of positive results as oil prices remained low, Standard&Poor’s said.

A Standard & Poor’s news release said emerging markets gained 5.44% in December, while developed markets were up 1.97% for the month. Developed market returns (+20.63%) trailed that of emerging markets (+38.56%) in 2006.

In December, 24 of the 27 developed markets posted an average gain of 4.29%, with declines in Canada (-0.54%), Iceland (-0.35%) and South Korea (-0.01%), according to the news release. The emerging markets posted gains in 22 of the 26 markets with an average gain of 6.3%. The emerging markets had more pronounced dips: Israel (-1.53%), Jordan (-3.00%), Pakistan (-6.40%) and Thailand (-9.24%).

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

For the year, all 27 developed markets were up an average of 35.15%, while 23 of the 26 emerging markets headed north by an average of 45.46%. The lagging markets during the year included Israel (-3.46%), Jordan (-35.56%) and Turkey (-2.04%).

Examining the market by sectors, eight out of the 10 showed were positive in December, with Telecommunications as the best-performing sector gaining 3.65%, and Energy as the worst with a 1.47% decline. At year-end 2006, Utilities was the best sector with 36.92%, while Information Technology was the worst at 9.49%.

A full copy of the S&P/Citigroup World by Numbers Report for December is at www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

BISYS Selects Mrak for SMA Post

BISYS Fund Services has tapped Joseph Mrak as senior vice president and general manager for its managed account outsourcing business, WealthSolutions.

A BISYS news release said Mrak comes from CheckFree Investment Services. As vice president of product management and marketing, Mrak was responsible for the strategy and development of the APL, GIM, and CALIPER product lines.

The announcement said that Mrak’s expertise includes multi-style portfolio and unified managed account program design and development, technology; business process best practices; and front, middle and back-office operations. He also has experience with institutional money management products and technology.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

“We envision significant growth potential for WealthSolutions and look forward to the many positive contributions Joe is poised to bring to our wealth management clients and prospects,” Fred Naddaff, president of BISYS Fund Services, said in the news release.

«