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Huge aid programs from governments and central banks contributed to the rapid recovery of equity markets after the crisis. In addition, in the second half of the year there was initial optimism among investors that the global economy, which collapsed in the second quarter, will recover from 2021. Confidence around the rapid development of a CoV vaccine also gave a boost. to the ground.
Investment advisers magazine “Fonds professionell” raised another reason: “It was precisely in these darkest weeks on all stock exchanges for a long time that private investors showed courage. Among them, this is perhaps the most surprising finding of the previous year, many of the German citizens chronically traumatized by Telekom’s actions have recently been included, as shown by the surprisingly strong increase in the number of securities accounts and savings plan contracts. . And suddenly a new fever for stocks is rampant in Austria as well. “
Good year for the leading German index
The DAX said goodbye to the trading year at a record high on Wednesday. Closing at 13,718 points, the German benchmark has gained around 3.5% in 2020. From the annual low of 8,255 points in March, it has even risen by around two-thirds. However, with the record 13,903 points reached shortly before the end of the year, investors took a certain mortgage for the new stock market year, as an expected recovery from the virus crisis is at least partially anticipated. However, it will continue to rely on financial support from politics and central banks in 2021.
Bad year for the national stock exchanges
The ATX crashed almost in half in mid-March. Since then, stock prices have risen again, but overall the ATX has lost 12 percent this year.
By contrast, Vienna’s leading ATX index closed 2020 down twelve percent. At the close of the last trading day of this year, the index stood at 2,780 points. The ATX was unable to make up for the price losses it suffered, but was able to clearly limit the loss. In the previous year, the ATX was still expected to grow around 16 percent.
Few winners on the Viennese court
This year’s ATX performance winners were Verbund shares (plus 56 percent). Shares of Mayr-Melnhof (plus 38 percent) and AT&S (plus 30 percent) also ended the year with strong price gains. Also, voestalpine was able to bring an 18 percent increase in the new year, all the other 20 values on the ATX decided 2020 unchanged or in the negative range. Oil and financial stocks performed particularly poorly. As the biggest loser of the year, Schoeller-Bleckmann lost 38 percent, OMV 34 percent. Immofinanz (minus 30 percent), UNIQA (minus 30 percent) and Erste Group (minus 26 percent) also posted significant losses at the end of the year.
New records on international stock exchanges
Stock prices reflect hope about how the future will unfold. And there is a lot of optimism: the Brexit deal, the CoV vaccines, the programs to stimulate the economy – all of this gives stock exchanges a boost.
The European benchmark Euro-Stoxx-50 is currently down around 5 percent annually, but this year it won’t finish trading until Thursday, as is the London Stock Exchange. On Wednesday, Britain’s benchmark FTSE-100 index closed 0.71 percent lower at 6,555 points. From an annual perspective, the UK benchmark is down nearly 14 percent. Disputes around Brexit and associated uncertainties resulted in more significant losses in 2020 than on the other leading stock exchanges in Europe.
Nasdaq on the rise
In Asia, markets were hit hard in the spring, but the recovery afterward is impressive. In Japan, the Nikkei-225 increased by 16 percent during the year, the Shanghai Composite in China is currently at an annual plus of eleven percent. The leading New York Dow Jones index has an annual balance of about plus six percent. The Nasdaq-100 technology index is currently even more than 46 percent at the plus for the year. The coronavirus crisis has given digitization and therefore the tech sector a huge rebound around the world this year.
The era of Bitcoins
The best example of this is the digital currency Bitcoin: on Wednesday, the price on the Luxembourg trading platform Bitstamp reached a record high of US $ 28,599 (€ 23,276). In the coming year, experts see a sustained upward trend, with forecasts up to $ 300,000 by the end of 2021. Bitcoin has been at a high since early November. During this time, the price has more than doubled. Starting at around $ 8,000, the price dropped to less than $ 4,000 during the first wave of pandemics in the spring. After that, a slow climb began, which accelerated sharply on the fall.
According to experts, the main reason for this is that the digital currency has recently moved more to the focus of large financial investors and is in higher demand. Above all, the announcement of the PayPal payment service that it would allow its customers to pay with Bitcoins resulted in a huge increase in demand. Interest in digital currencies is also increasing due to the pandemic and the associated sharp increase in national debt. For this reason, some investors fear an increase in inflation in the medium and long term, against which they want to protect themselves with alternative investments.
Gold remains stable
Gold was also reliable this year. The price of the precious metal has been trending up for two years, and in 2019 and 2020 investors were able to expect price increases of around 20 percent each. Low interest rates and the rush of money from major central banks in the fight against the pandemic also created demand recently.
During the course of the crisis, the price reached a record of $ 2,075 in the summer, but at the end of the year the rise was cushioned somewhat. On Wednesday, the price of gold hovered around $ 1,880. Overall, experts expect the price of gold to rise further in 2021. Most analysts surveyed by the Bloomberg news agency expect the price of gold to trade above current levels in twelve months. However, by the end of 2021 they only expect an average gold price of $ 1,900 a troy ounce.
