Why Venezuela and Iran held the key to returns in 2011

Which markets fared best during a tumultuous year?

Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may not strike investors as the most business-friendly politicians in the world, but rising inflation in Venezuela and a continued market boom in Iran meant those countries were home to two of the world's best performing stock markets in 2011. Markets such as these, which could politely be described as underowned, dominate the list of best performing indices for 2011. But thoughts of escaping the volatility that characterised 2011 by looking to far-flung corners of the globe were, unsurprisingly, misplaced. For example, the Mongolian Stock Exchan...