November 05, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 6, 1429

NEW YORK, Nov 4: World equity markets lost an estimated $5.79 trillion during October, the biggest monthly loss ever, Standard & Poor’s Index Services said on Monday.

The October loss eclipsed the previous record, which was set just one month earlier, when 52 global equity markets lost a combined $4 trillion. Through the first 10 months of the year, world markets have lost about $16.22 trillion, according to S&P research.

Though US markets accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the losses during the month, they performed better than the average world market.

The US accounted for $2.27 trillion of October’s losses, as S&P’s broad market index for the nation fell 18 per cent. The global average decline was 20.7 per cent during the month.

“At the beginning of the year, the US was somewhat written off,” said Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst at S&P. “Comparatively the US is significantly better because of the depth and types of markets.”

Silverblatt said the US also should be able to recover better than many other markets as individual investors are more likely to return to the world’s largest market. The US represents about 45.9 per cent of all global equity issues, according to S&P.

In emerging markets and even some developed markets, many investors might not return as the outsized losses in recent months have taken their toll, Silverblatt said. A lack of history, depth and liquidity in markets could keep individual investors on the sidelines in other countries, he added.

Global markets have declined nearly 40 per cent since the end of May.

Hungary’s equity market declined the most in October, falling 43.2 per cent during the month, which equates to about $8.6 billion in losses. Pakistan performed the best, falling just 4.2 per cent, or $276 million.—AP