Russell Global Index Up 15.2% in 2010

The Russell Global Index gained 15.2% in 2010, topping the S&P 500’s improvement of about 15.1% last year, according to report issued Tuesday.

Russell Investments says 42 of the 48 countries represented in the index had positive returns. The Philippines topped the list with a 77% return in 2010, followed by Thailand at 59.3%, Chile at 51.1% and Colombia at 48.5%.

Greece was the worst-performing market in the Russell Global Index, reflecting a loss of 42.5% for the year. Spain declined -20.5%, Italy -15.1%, Portugal -12.4% and France -1.3%.

Some countries that outperformed the U.S.’ return of 16.9% were Mexico with 31.6%, Canada with 25.7%, Russia with 25.3% and India with 20.1%. The U.S. performance, however, was better than Brazil’s 11.2% and China’s 9.3%.

The Russell Global Index consists of more than 10,000 securities in 48 countries. Consistent with the design of the Russell U.S. Equity Indexes, it is constructed using float-adjusted market capitalization weights and represents 98% of the investable global equity market.