Cleantech shares have enjoyed a surge during the first quarter of this year, benefiting from the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant and the higher oil price that has, in part, resulted from unrest in the Middle East.
The two biggest gainers of the cleantech indices that we follow were the Ardour Solar Energy Index (SOLRX), which tracks the shares of the world’s largest listed solar energy companies, and Germany’s ÖkoDAX index, which comprises the ten largest German companies in the renewable energies sector. SOLRX gained 21.9% during Q1 2011, while ÖkoDAX put on 20.2%. Both indices are heavily biased towards the solar sector and were boosted by a rally in solar stocks in March on the back of Japan’s nuclear crisis as Germany mulled the possibility of going nuclear free.
Broader-focused cleantech indices achieved more modest gains, but there were still impressive performances by the Renewable Energy Industrial Index (up 14.5%) and the Ardour Global Alternative Energy Index (up 9.2%).
| Cleantech Indices | Value end March 2010 | Value end Dec 2010 | Value end March 2011 | % change Q1 2011 | % change y-o-y |
| Ardour Global Alternative Energy Index (AGIGL) | 1784.62 | 1608.98 | 1757.02 | 9.2 | -1.5 |
| Ardour Solar Energy Index (SOLRX) | 1858.44 | 1578.47 | 1924 | 21.9 | 3.5 |
| Deutsche Bourse ÖkoDAX | 274.51 | 202.88 | 243.78 | 20.2 | -11.2 |
| FTSE ET50 Index | 157.65 | 154.11 | 167.71 | 8.8 | 6.4 |
| Renewable Energy Industrial Index (RENIXX) | 668.57 | 529.63 | 606.24 | 14.5 | -9.3 |
| NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index (CELS) | 205.6 | 216.22 | 222.47 | 2.9 | 8.2 |
| WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index (NEX) | 222.88 | 212.46 | 197.33 | -7.1 | -11.5 |
| WilderHill Clean Energy Index (ECO) | 100.36 | 105.5 | 108.93 | 3.2 | 8.5 |
The FTSE ET50 index, which tracks the world’s 50 largest pure-play environmental technology companies, increased by 8.8% during the first quarter. However, its performance on a year-on-year basis has been less impressive, with a decline of 6%.
The WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index (NEX) saw a fall of 7.1% during the first quarter, while its more US-focused counterpart, the WilderHill Clean Energy Index (ECO), rose by 3.2%.
Most of the indices we follow are still well down on their respective levels at the end of 2009. Particularly badly hit since then have been the ÖkoDAX and RENIXX indices, down by 22.4% and 19.1% respectively.
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