MSCI Indices Q1 2013 Performance Results ¹

Global Equity Markets Deliver Solid Returns Overall, Continuing the Momentum of 2012

• Global markets posted significant positive returns, predominantly in developed and frontier markets
• Emerging markets and Europe stumbled somewhat in comparison, exhibiting weaker relative performance
• Small caps surpassed large and mid caps across most regions and countries, maintaining the trend of 2012

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– MSCI Inc. (NYS: MSCI) , a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, today published the Q1 2013 performance of its MSCI Global Equity Indices, which showed strong positive returns for the most part, extending the decisive rebound of global equities seen in 2012. For example, the MSCI ACWI Investable Market Index (IMI), comprised of close to 9,000 large, mid and small cap securities across 24 Developed and 21 Emerging Markets countries, delivered a return of 6.38% for the quarter, on top of its 13.70% gain in 2012.

Globally, small caps substantially outperformed mid and large cap segments over the quarter. The MSCI ACWI Small Cap Index returned 9.27% in Q1 2013, for instance, exceeding all other MSCI ACWI index capitalization segments: the MSCI ACWI Mid Cap and MSCI ACWI Large Cap Indices posted Q1 returns of 7.43% and 5.66%, respectively.

The MSCI ACWI IMI Health Care and MSCI ACWI IMI Consumer StaplesIndices outperformed all other global sectors, returning 13.35% and 10.72% for the quarter, respectively. Laggard sectors included the MSCI ACWI IMI Energy and MSCI ACWI IMI Materials Indices which returned 3.43% and -4.41% for the period.

Developed Markets

Most MSCI Developed Markets (DM) Indices delivered solid positive returns for Q1 2013, with the exception of Europe and the EMU. Two MSCI flagship indices—the MSCI World Index and the MSCI EAFE Index—posted Q1 returns of 7.18% and 4.40%, respectively. The lower performance of MSCI EAFE (which excludes North America) …read more
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