At the opening bell on Tuesday, Indian stock indices saw a sharp increase in trading and came very close to reaching all-time highs. The Nifty and Sensex, two benchmark indices, were up 0.7-8% from their closing on Saturday. 39 of the closely watched Nifty 50 stocks increased at the opening bell, while the remaining 11 fell. According to NSE data, the top five individual stock gainers were Cipla, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Power Grid Corp, and Bharti Airtel, while the top five losers were Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Britania, HDFC Bank, and BPCL.
On Monday, Indian stock exchanges were closed for trading on the occasion of Pran Pratistha of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The steam in the Indian stock market this morning was also led by the news that India has pipped Hong Kong to become the fourth-highest equity market globally. The combined value of shares listed on Indian exchanges reached USD 4.33 trillion as of Monday’s close, versus USD 4.29 trillion for Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
India’s stock market capitalization crossed USD 4 trillion for the first time on December 5, 2023, with about half of that reportedly coming in the past four years.
The top three stock markets are the US, China, and Japan.