Chinese economic growth may be cooling but Shanghai shares were the best returning investment in 2014.
Anyone who bought A-shares listed in Shanghai at the start of 2014 would be sitting on a 45.9 per cent gain on a total return basis in dollar terms.
Next best among major assets is the S&P 500 US stocks index, returning 15.4 per cent after hitting a new record high on Monday.
Recent gains were fuelled by strong economic data and a commitment by the Federal Reserve to be "patient" about raising interest rates.
In contrast, European shares, excluding Britain, lost 6.3 per cent.
But the big loser was Brent crude oil, which has been hammered by a supply glut and signs of slowing demand in major economies. It hit a 5 1/2-year low under $57 a barrel on Tuesday and has lost nearly half its value over the year.
Among other commodities, which are non-yielding assets, gold is down 1.8 per cent despite its safe-haven status. Copper, which traded near 4 1/2-year lows on Tuesday on concerns about slowing demand in China, is off 13.6 per cent. The Thomson Reuters/Core Commodity CRB index is down 16.7 per cent.
In fixed income, US 10-year Treasuries returned 10.4 per cent, while relatively high-yielding 10-year Italian debt, which has been supported by expectations the European Central Bank will soon launch a programme of sovereign bonds purchases, returned 8.6 percent.
German 10-year Bunds, set for their biggest annual fall in yields since 2008, have returned 3.0 per cent.
Emerging market equities, as measured by MSCI, are set to end the year in the red, down 1.6 per cent so far, though frontier markets stocks have returned 7.2 per cent. Local currency emerging debt has lost 5.7 per cent.