Ukraine

2009 growth: 44.30%
Decline from 52-week high: -55.38%

The PFTS Stock Exchange is the larger of Ukraine's two main stock exchanges (the other being the Ukrainian Stock Exchange).

Approximately 220 companies are listed on the PFTS, which began operation since 1996.

The global downturn is hammering the export-oriented Soviet-era steel and chemical industries that account for 30 per cent of Ukraine's gross domestic product.

Its financial system is in chaos and, is facing imminent default. The bank accounts of millions of Ukrainians have been frozen, unemployment is spiralling, the hryvna (Ukrainian currency) has lost half its value since last summer, and the price the country has to pay for its main energy source, Russian gas, has just doubled.

The World Bank recently warned that Ukraine's economy will shrink nine percent in 2009 amid the global economic crisis.