How major benchmark indices performed for 1st half of 2011?

At Asian Pacific close today, all Asian/Pacific benchmark index finished higher. For the month of June, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan closed a second month lower. Cheers swept through global markets after the Greek Parliament approved austerity measures to ensure the euro zone member would not default on its debt. Greek is waiting for the austerity to pass into law.

Benchmark	20111231	20110429	20110531	20110630
All Ordinaries	4,846.90	4,899.00	4,788.90	4,659.80
Shanghai Composite	2,808.08	2,912.14	2,743.72	2,762.08
Hang Seng	23,035.45	23,720.81	23,684.13	22,398.10
BSE 30	20,509.09	19,135.96	18,503.28	18,845.87
Jakarta Composite	3,703.51	3,819.62	3,836.97	3,888.57
KLSE Composite	1,518.91	1,534.95	1,558.29	1,579.07
Nikkei 225	10,228.92	9,849.74	9,693.73	9,816.09
NZSE 50	3,309.03	3,519.33	3,547.64	3,448.35
Straits Times	3,190.04	3,179.86	3,159.93	3,120.44
Seoul Composite	2,051.00	2,192.36	2,142.47	2,100.69
Taiwan Weighted	8,972.50	9,007.87	8,988.84	8,652.59

At European close, most European/UK indices are higher. For the month of June, Germany closed the month higher.

CAC 40	3,804.78	4,106.92	4,006.94	3,982.21
DAX	6,914.19	7,514.46	7,293.69	7,376.24
FTSE 100	5,899.94	6,069.90	5,989.99	5,945.71

For the week till date, the Greek parliament introduced 28B Euros of spending cuts, tax hikes and privatizations. In exchange, the IMF will release the second tranche, of its bailout fund to keep the Greek government running till late 3rd quarter.

What does the austerity plan means to the Greece? "It will bring over-taxation, shut down businesses, send workers away, reduce incomes, abolish social rights and health benefits and lower living standards." Costas Panagopoulos, head of pollsters ALCO, said Papandreou faced a huge challenge pushing through the austerity measures in the face of general public resistance. "The problem for Papandreou is not in parliament, it is what is happening outside parliament," he said.

In the US, the Purchase Manager's Index registered a 61.1 reading, up from May's 56.6 and ahead of expectations for a 53. That’s great. But the Labor Department reported 428,000 new jobless claims filing, more than the expected 420,000 and indicating continued weakness in the vital part of the economy. This is currently brushed aside amidst strong optimism in global markets.

For the moment, Greece is no longer in focus. The Volatility index, VIX tumbled below 17.

Elsewhere, Standard & Poor’s warned that it will slash America’s credit rating to selective default if Congress fails to reach agreement on the Budget deficit and debt ceiling and misses its debt payment on August 4.

As mentioned earlier, June 30^th marks the end of the Federal Reserve's QE2, with the Fed ending its $600 billion bond-buying program; the central bank gave no information as to whether there would be more monetary easing in the future. For the record, The Dow and S&P had risen slightly over 20% since the launch of QE2.