New Delhi: India has regained its position as the world’s fifth-largest stock market with a valuation of $3.31 trillion. After briefly being overtaken by France in January, India’s positive stock market performance propelled it back to the fifth spot.
The Indian equity markets have been on a rally since March 28, driven by continued buying from foreign investors and improved macroeconomic conditions in the country. Both the Sensex and the Nifty have experienced significant gains of nearly 10%, while the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices climbed around 15%. The BSE Bankex also saw an increase of almost 13%.
Foreign investors have shown strong interest in Indian equities, with purchases amounting to nearly $6.3 billion over the past two months. This influx of foreign capital has contributed to the rise in India’s market capitalization.
With a market capitalization of $3.31 trillion, India now holds the fifth position among the top 10 most-valued countries in terms of stock market size. Since the beginning of the year, India has witnessed an increase of approximately $330 billion in market capitalization. The United States maintains the top spot with a market value of $44.54 trillion, followed by China with $10.26 trillion and Japan with $5.68 trillion. Hong Kong ranks fourth with a market capitalization of $5.14 trillion, while France holds the sixth position with a market value of $3.24 trillion.
Foreign brokerage firm Jefferies has expressed confidence in India’s long-term growth prospects and believes that it is only a matter of time before the BSE benchmark Sensex crosses the significant milestone of 100,000. This target has attracted significant attention in India’s financial media landscape. Jefferies’ projection is based on the assumption of 15% earnings per share (EPS) growth over a five-year period and the maintenance of a five-year average one-year forward price-to-earnings (PE) multiple of 19.8 times.
Investors are now eagerly awaiting the release of gross domestic product (GDP) data for the March quarter, which is scheduled to be announced on May 31. This data is expected to provide further insights into the state of the Indian economy and may have an impact on market sentiment and investment decisions.
