Standard & Poor's announced that the world's emerging and developed equity markets overcame a turbulent August to produce stellar results for the third quarter. According to Standard & Poor's global stock market review, The World By Numbers, emerging equity markets rose 11.03% during the third quarter of this year versus a 4.55% increase for developed equity markets.

"Global equity markets looked past a volatile August to return impressive results for the third quarter," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor's. "While liquidity and quality issues remained a major concern, the overall situation calmed down significantly with positive global reaction to the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate cut of half a point, combined with remarks by several central banks reassuring investors that their governments would protect their economies and markets."

During the third quarter, 17 of the 27 developed markets finished in positive territory with an average gain of 8.80%, while the 10 markets remaining in negative territory averaged a loss of -3.85%. For the emerging markets, 17 out of 25 posted gains averaging 12.68%. The eight markets showing declines for the quarter averaged -2.27%.

For the month of September, 24 of the 27 developed markets posted gains, a sharp reversal from the 21 markets that declined in August. Eight markets posted double-digit gains, led by Luxembourg (+16.11%), Australia (+14.91%) and Hong Kong (+13.67%). Portugal (-2.91%), Ireland (-1.72%) and Iceland (- 1.44%) were the lone decliners. All of the emerging markets were in positive territory for the month, with notable returns from China (+19.84%), Brazil (+18.88%), India (+16.40%) and Turkey (+15.83%). Chile reported the lowest gain of 0.81%, but remained up 50.82% over the 12-month period.

All ten sectors posted gains in September, led by Materials at 10.39% and Energy at 8.05%. Consumer Discretionary showed the lowest gain of 1.85%.

The S&P/Citigroup World by Numbers Report for September 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.