The gains were pretty broadly spread, with all the main regions except the Middle East and Africa making progress in dollar terms. The biggest advances were made in the Pacific Basin, where hopes of a recovery in technology spending in 2002, boosted the region's many component manufacturers.
South east Asia's economies have been badly hit by the worldwide economic slowdown and particularly by the downturn in capital expenditure. But November saw a few tentative signs of recovery; Korea, the best performing equity market of the month, issued third quarter growth figures which were better than expected. Taiwan and Thailand were also among the world's top five performers.
The Turkish stock market also enjoyed a strong run, helped by expectations of further finance from the International Monetary Fund and by the perception that, as a Muslim member of NATO, the US will not want to see the Turkish economy descend into crisis.
Another significant debtor nation, Argentina, was among the losers, however, as concerns continued that the country would eventually be forced into devaluation or default. The worst performer of the month was also in Latin America - Venezuela, which suffered from the continued slide in the oil price.
The same slippage in the price of crude made its mark at the sectoral level, where oil & gas was the worst performing industry group in Europe. Tobacco, a defensive sector which performed well earlier in the year, also lost ground.
In an echo of the boom periods of 1999 and early 2000, the rally was led by the technology groupings. Although the industry remains plagued by overcapacity, investors clearly felt that many technology stocks had fallen to cheap levels after the beatings they have taken over the last 18 months.
The best performing individual stocks were also those which were badly hit in September - notably British Airways and Invensys, the electronics group. P&O Princess Cruises was given a further lift by the announcement of its planned merger with fellow cruise group Royal Caribbean.
Even in the midst of the rally, however, there were still reminders that many companies are finding the going difficult. Altom, the worst performing European stock of the month, warned that operating margins were under pressure, while contract caterer Sodexho issued a downbeat trading statement.
