The world's emerging and developed markets continued to post positive returns in December and for all of 2006 as oil prices remained low, Standard & Poor's announced today. According to Standard & Poor's global stock market review, The World By Numbers, emerging markets gained 5.44% in December, while developed markets rose 1.97% for the month. Developed market returns (+20.63%) also trailed that of emerging markets (+38.56%) in 2006.



"2006 became a banner year for shareholders, as most markets continued to gain in December," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor's. "Oil prices stabilized and broke under the $60 mark, as warmer weather decreased demand."

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%). The emerging markets posted gains in 22 of the 26 markets with an average of 6.30%. The declines were more substantial in the emerging markets with Israel (-1.53%), Jordan (-3.00%), Pakistan (-6.40%) and Thailand (-9.24%).

For the year, all 27 developed markets gained with an average of 35.15%, while 23 of the 26 emerging markets gained an average of 45.46%. The markets that were down for the year include Israel (-3.46%), Jordan (-35.56%) and Turkey (-2.04%).

Looking at the sectors, 8 out of the 10 showed gains in December, with Telecommunications as the best-performing sector gaining 3.65%, and Energy as the worst with a 1.47% decline. For 2006, Utilities was the best sector with 36.92%, while Information Technology was the worst at 9.49%.

The S&P/Citigroup World by Numbers Report for December can be accessed in full by going to www.standardandpoors.com/indices. In addition, a table showing the performance of the S&P/Citigroup BMI Index can be found at the conclusion of this release.