By Bloomberg News March 9 (Bloomberg) -- East European and Central Asian stocks led gains in the year since global equities bottomed out following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Ukraine’s PFTS Index surged almost fourfold since March 9 last year, the biggest gain among 93 stock measures worldwide, as governments committed about $12 trillion to revive economies hit hardest by the global recession. Shares in Russia, the world’s largest energy supplier, Kazakhstan and Hungary more than doubled in the past year as a rebound in economic growth and interest-rate cuts from the U.S. to China boosted oil and metals prices. Stocks plunged worldwide after Lehman Brothers’ collapse in September 2008 froze credit markets and caused global trade to plummet. The MSCI AC World Index of shares in developed and emerging nations, which sank 60 percent from its October 2007 peak to its trough last year, has since rallied 74 percent. “Investor panic led to a sharp fall in many of those markets,” said Shane Oliver, the Sydney-based head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors, which oversees about $90 billion. “Those markets that have fallen the most have been able to rebound the strongest as the global financial crisis eases.” The PFTS index jumped 281 percent in the past year as a $16.4 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund helped Ukraine repay creditors following a plunge in demand for exports such as steel and a funding crisis in the banking industry. Russia, Romania Russia’s Micex Index has rallied 106 percent during the past year, while Kazakhstan’s KASE index tripled following rebounds in oil and metals prices. Romania’s Bucharest Exchange Trading Index surged 181 percent after a new government got the IMF to unfreeze a $27 billion bailout. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of U.S. stocks advanced 68 percent in the past 12 months. “We may still get decent returns there, but you have to be very selective and careful on where to invest,” said Aberdeen Asset Management Co.’s Mike Turner, referring to stock markets in eastern Europe. Turner helps oversee more than $230 billion as Aberdeen’s head of global strategy and asset allocation. Developing nations will expand 6 percent in 2010, compared with 2.1 percent for advanced economies, according to estimates from the IMF. Sri Lanka’s Colombo All-Share Index surged 134 percent in the past year with the end of the island’s civil war. Argentina’s Merval Index and Turkey’s ISE National 100 Index were also among the world’s top 10 gainers. Skyworth Soars Hong Kong-listed Skyworth Digital Holdings Ltd., which sells color televisions in China, has surged more than 12-fold in the past year as China sought to boost consumer spending by giving rebates for household appliance purchases by residents in rural areas. Skyworth is the best gainer on the MSCI gauge of 22 developing countries. Stock measures in Slovakia, Ecuador and Bahrain were among the biggest declines in the past year. --Chua Kong Ho, Michael Patterson. With assistance from Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok. Editors: Reinie Booysen, Stephen Kirkland To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Chua Kong Ho in Shanghai at Kchua6@bloomberg.net

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