LONDON: European countries in 2010, but Germany and Britain bucked the trend to end the year with solid gains.
With Germany's economic motor running in high gear -- growth was expected to come in at a post-unification record of 3.6 -- Frankfurt's DAX 30 jumped 16 percent to end the year just shy of 7,000 points.
In Britain, which is not part of the eurozone, the FTSE 100 had a decent year with an increase of 9.2 percent.
"Much of this growth has of course come from a terrific final six-month performance after the index suffered an 18 percent correction in the second quarter of the year as the European sovereign debt crisis hit," said Joshua Raymond, an analyst at City Index trading group.
But elsewhere stock markets took hits from the eurozone debt crisis, and as countries slashed spending to correct their finances that dimmed growth prospects.
"There remains a huge cloud of uncertainty over some of the peripheral states within the eurozone that are saddled with debt with investors fearing that a Irish type bailout could be on the cards, forcing equity prices much lower," added Raymond.
Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners, said: "We enter 2011 still facing up to a great many unresolved economic and political issues. These include the main sovereign debt crisis in Europe and ... will need to be addressed now rather than pushed into 2012 and beyond," he added.
Greece's 110-billion-euro (150-billion-dollar) bailout by the EU and IMF in May saved the country from bankruptcy, but the severe austerity measures the government has had to impose may cause a recession, and shares plunged 35 percent over the year.
Stocks fared much better in Ireland, which ran to the EU and IMF for an 85-billion-euro rescue in November, dropping 3.0 percent over the year.
In Spain, which is seen in some quarters as another possible bailout candidate due to slow growth and a popped property bubble in addition to a big budget gap, shares tumbled 17.5 percent.
Shares in Portugal, another country seen at risk of needing a bailout, shares fell 10.4 percent.
Shares in Italy dropped 13.2 percent amid extended political uncertainty, which raised concerns that the country will be able to slash spending further and undertake unpopular reforms needed to spur enough growth needed to keep on top of its massive debt forecast to reach 118.5 percent of gross domestic product.
France also somehow ended up along with the losers, with the CAC-40 slipping 3.34 percent.
"We've never seen anything like this! Such a disparity between company results, which overall were very satisfying, and an annual stock performance so modest," said Xavier de Villepion, a broker at Global Equities.
Swiss stocks ended the year down 1.7 percent as the franc rose to record highs against the euro and dollar on safe haven sentiment.
Further afield, stocks in Poland climbed 14.9 percent and by 22.5 percent in Russia.
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