World stocks lost $13 trillion in 2018, $5.0 trillion from Asia

Global equities lost about $13 trillion last year with $5 trillion from Asian markets, according to global media reports.
"The erosion in value equals the combined market capitalisation of Asia's three biggest economies - China, Japan, and India," according to a report of The Economic Times.
"To be sure, the loss in absolute terms wasn't as big as it was in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 meltdown, when equities had lost $27.8 trillion globally," the report added.
"US and China together accounted for half the losses this year, and the declines likely point to an end to the 10-year bull run," it further added.
Mumbai, by contrast, remained resilient: India's market capitalisation fell just $350 billion, making up about 2.5 per cent of the global erosion.
Global equity value reached a record high of $87 trillion in January 2018, with the US alone making up more than 40 per cent.
However, Wall Street declined steeply in the past three months, with the S&P 500 dragged into the bear territory. The Dow Jones lost more than 5,000 points from its record high, and is poised for its worst December showing since 1931.
Global equities have come under pressure due to tariff wars, which the OECD expects would cause global GDP growth to drop to 3.5 per cent in 2019 from 3.7 per cent in 2018.
Another media report said that Asian equities have lost about $5.0 trillion in value and the benchmark is poised for its worst annual decline since 2011.
"Turbulence returned with a vengeance with stocks across the region seeing the most vicious price swings in more than two years, according to a gauge of 90-day volatility in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index," it added.
AFP adds: World stock markets staggered Monday towards the end of their worst year since the global financial crisis a decade ago, rocked by rising interest rates, the global trade war and Brexit, dealers said.
London and Paris wobbled in holiday-shortened trade on New Year's Eve -- but nursed dizzying double-digit annual falls after an exceptionally volatile 2018.
Key Asian markets have limped towards the end of the year in bear market territory, with Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index rounding out 2018 with its first annual loss since 2011 and Shanghai becoming the worst-performing major stock market in the world.
Hong Kong ended a tough year on a positive note Monday, with the Hang Seng posting strong gains after US President Donald Trump hailed "big progress" on resolving Washington's trade war with Beijing.
In light holiday trading with Tokyo and Shanghai closed, stocks in the south China financial hub were buoyed by Trump's upbeat assessment on prospects for ending the tariff conflict between the world's two biggest economies, which has rattled markets globally.
"There were very few safe havens which worked this year," said Jason Low, senior investment strategist with DBS Group Holdings' wealth-management unit.
But the Hang Seng shrugged off disappointing Chinese economic data Monday to end a shortened trading day up more than one per cent.
Manufacturing purchasing managers index data in China fell below 50 -- the line between expansion and contraction -- for the first time since 2016, adding to concern about the slowing domestic economy.
"The slowdown will continue into the next year," said Larry Hu, a Hong Kong-based economist at Macquarie Securities Ltd.
"The weak PMI could result in more government stimulus to shore up the economy."
In commodities markets, oil chalked up gains on renewed US-China trade optimism.
However, both oil benchmarks have lost around 40 per cent of their value from four-year peaks in early October and are expected to continue struggling, hobbled by a supply glut and a slowing global economy.
"The effects of rising inventories and an economic gloom for the near future have exacerbated bearish influences in oil prices," said Benjamin Lu, commodities analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore.