Russia

2009 growth: 53.33%
Decline from 52-week high: -61.22%

The Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange or MICEX is one of the largest universal stock exchanges in the Russian Federation and East Europe. MICEX opened in 1992 and is the leading Russian stock exchange, consisting of shares and corporate bonds of about 600 Russian companies.

After a massive sell-off last year pushed the valuations of Russian companies to record lows, rising energy prices in recent months have drawn investors back into the market.

In May 2009, the Micex index of major Russian company shares, was up about 105 per cent after bottoming out on October 27.

Russia's economy shrank by 7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2009. Unemployment was up, at 8.5 per cent in February, the highest level since January 2005.