A Good Year for Global Equity Investors…

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2017 has been a fantastic year for equity investors globally. From advanced markets to frontier markets, equity benchmarks witnessed bullrun inthe year. YTD return across markets under our coverage averaged 21.2% as at Dec-28. Ghana (+53.1%) and Nigeria (+41.4%) outperformed peers, driven by a rebound in oil prices and improved policy outcomes, while Hong-Kong’s Hang Seng Index (+35.8) and US Nasdaq (+28.9%) trailed closely.

Despite increasing tension in the geopolitical space, bullish sentiment across the globe is traceable to a broad-based expansion in the global economy. According to the IMF, the global GDP is projected to expand 3.7% in 2017, 50bps faster than 3.2% in 2016. This has been supported by pickups in global investment, trade, industrial production, business and consumer confidence. As such, investors expect stronger global demand to bolster corporate earnings, profitability and
dividend income.

More interestingly, a worldwide equities market bull run can also be linked to the harmony observed in global growth. All 45 largest economies in the world
tracked by the OECD are firing on all cylinders; they are all expected to either grow faster or moderate marginally, but none is projected to contract in 2017 and 2018, a sharp contrast to observed trend over the last 8 years.