Estonia has been the best performer out of the new member states, returning 82% in sterling terms. The Czech Republic takes second place with a gain of nearly 75% and Hungary comes third with a 63% rise. London’s FTSE All-Share index has returned 10% in the same time.
Of the other countries that joined a year ago — Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus — only Slovenia (squashed between Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia) and Cyprus have returned less than 10%.
Eastern European stock markets have boomed as foreign investors have piled in to take advantage of EU accession. Plamen Monovski, manager of the Merrill Lynch International Emerging Europe fund, said: “One of the key benefits of EU convergence has been lower interest