An index of billionaires' fortunes showed that this cohort of the world's population mostly gained ground last year.

An index tracking fortunes of the world's super-rich showed they ended 2016 holding a total of $237 billion more than they had at the start of that year, with rising stock markets helping drive growth and confounding predictions of woe amid the election of Donald Trump as US president and the UK's Brexit vote.

In Asia, however, the Bloomberg index of billionaires shows that wealth creation for Chinese billionaires turned negative for the first time since the US news organisation set up its index five years ago. China's wealthiest lost $11 billion in 2016 amid a fall in the mainland's Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index and a 7 per cent decline for the yuan against the dollar (source: Bloomberg).

The gains for billionaires worldwide were led by US investment guru Warren Buffett, who added $11.8 billion during the year as his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway saw its airline and banking holdings soar after Trump's victory on 8 November.

Bill Gates remained the world's richest person throughout the year with $91.5 billion. Amancio Ortega, Europe's richest person and founder of the Zara clothing chain, was in second place on the index for most of the year until he ceded it to Buffett in November. Ortega, who lost $1.7 billion in 2016, is the world's third-richest person with $71.2 billion.

Nine of the 10 biggest decliners in 2016 were from outside the US, led by China's second-richest person, Wang Jianlin, who lost $5.8 billion. Wang, founder and chairman of conglomerate Wanda Group, ended the year as the world's 21st-richest person with $30.6 billion.

Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma closed the year with $33.3 billion, adding $3.6 billion in 2016. He dropped in and out of his place as Asia's richest person for the first four months of the year before claiming it for good in May after Alibaba's finance affiliate, which is laying the groundwork for an initial public offering expected as soon as next year, completed a record $4.5 billion equity fundraising round.

China has 31 billionaires on the index with $262 billion, trailing the US, which has 179 billionaires who control $1.9 trillion, and Germany, whose 39 billionaires have $281 billion, Bloomberg said.