Europe's importance on world's stock exchanges continues to decline: EY

A monitor displays stock market information on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, the United States, Oct. 7, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

Only 15 of the world's 100 most valuable companies are from Europe, as against 46 at the end of 2007.

BERLIN, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Europe's importance on the world's stock exchanges has continued to decline, consulting firm Ernst and Young (EY) Germany said on Thursday.

Only 15 of the world's 100 most valuable companies are from Europe, down from 16 at the end of 2021, EY said.

Before the financial crisis at the end of 2007, 46 of the world's 100 largest companies by market capitalization were registered in Europe, according to the EY study.

Germany's role in particular has declined, without a single company from Europe's largest economy making it to the list. Last year, software company SAP and technology firm Siemens were still among the top 100.

People attend a keynote address event during the 2022 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC22) at the Apple Park in Cupertino, California, the United States, June 6, 2022. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

"What count on the stock exchanges are not past successes, but future prospects," said Henrik Ahlers, chairman of the Management Board, EY Germany.

The dominance of the United States on the world's stock exchanges has not changed much despite U.S. technology shares losing value, the study has found. The number of U.S. firms ranking among the world's 100 most valuable companies fell to 61, one less than last year.

U.S. technology giant Apple remained the most valuable company in the world at the end of 2022, according to the study. The Saudi Arabian oil and gas company Saudi Aramco followed second, and was the only company in the top ten headquartered outside the U.S..

People visit the booth of Tencent during the Light of Internet Expo in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 8, 2022. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)

China came in second, with 15 of the world's 100 largest companies by market capitalization. The number of Chinese companies on the list has gone up by 50 percent within one year, the study showed.

Most of the top valued companies on global stock markets saw a downward trend in 2022. According to EY, the top 100 firms lost a total of 7.2 trillion U.S. dollars in market capitalization over the course of the year.

Technology companies were particularly affected, with their combined stock market value plummeting by 33 percent. The top U.S. companies Tesla, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon alone lost a combined value of 4.6 trillion U.S. dollars.