Japan was the top performing market of 2013, and China is the top performing market of 2014. The plunge in crude oil prices is likely to wreak economic havoc on vulnerable oil exporters such as Russia and Venezuela (both countries face recession in 2015), oil prices have hit 5 year lows this week, falling nearly 50 percent since mid-June 2014 as weak global demand for crude oil, combined with strong supply growth from new production wells going live in 2014. South and Southeast Asian markets also featured in the top-five performing markets after registering double-digit gains. Philippines and Indonesia equities followed close behind, both rising over 22 percent. Chinese market (Shanghai Composite) has bounced back after last couple of years of weak performance, and gained 52% in 2014, on the back of policy action by Chinese govt to boost the local economy, to become the best performing Asian market, and top performer worldwide for 2014 while beating Indian markets which gained 31% in 2014. Read More…