Oil, Commodities Worst 2015 Performers

Oil and commodities were the world's worst-performing asset class for the second year running in 2015, pressured by China's economic slowdown and excess supply.

Brent crude looked set for a loss of around 36 percent for the year as sustained selling pushed prices near 11-year lows, and the outlook for oil prices looks bleak for 2016.

The Thomson Reuters CRB commodities index fell 24 percent to six-year lows.

Among currencies, the U.S. dollar was the clear standout as the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

Emerging market assets took a drubbing as investors pulled out cash in the face of the resurgent dollar and sliding commodity prices, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

Among more widely-traded currencies, the five worst performing so far this year have been the Argentinian peso and Brazilian real, with losses of more than 30 percent versus the dollar, the South African rand, Turkish lira and the Russian rouble , which have tumbled more than 18 percent.

In equities, Denmark looked set to post the best performance in developed markets, with a gain of nearly 30 percent in its MSCI country index, while U.S. indexes may post only meagre gains. The MSCI world index looked set to drop 2 percent.

Hungary led emerging market equities, surging nearly 35 percent, with most others ending deep in the red.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei gained 9.1 percent but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were set to end the year 12 percent lower.

Despite a savage summer rout which rocked global markets, China had the region's best performing emerging market indexes in 2015, with the Shanghai Composite index and CSI300 set for gains of 10.5 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.

New Zealand was the best-performing Asia-Pacific developed market, with gains of 13.5 percent.

Graphics on 2015 returns by asset class

Compiled by Thomson Reuters Graphics Desk and Kim Coghill