China, HK stocks lost $ 5 trn, more than India’s market cap
Equity markets in China and Hong Kong together offloaded shares worth a massive $4.8 trillion in market capitalization since 2021.
An HSBC report says that this is more than the market capitalization of the Indian stock market. The report also claims that only India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) has grown during this period.
Adds the report, the NSE overtook the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Clearing to become the fourth-largest in the world in January. Quoting data from the World Federation of Exchanges, the report further says that the NSE is now worth $4.63 trillion, making it the third largest in Asia.
This is a clear indication of the scale of traction gained by the Indian stocks in the past few years, while their Chinese and Hong Kong counterparts are showing the tendency to shrink, points out the report.
China’s CSI 300 index has fallen for three straight years, closing out with a decline of 11.4 per cent last year. The performance of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was still worse, with 2023 as its fourth consecutive decline ending the year with 13.8 per cent. Both were the bottom performers among major Asia-Pacific indices last year.
China’s beleaguered property sector has been a source of worry for investors, which has also affected Hong Kong. Many Chinese real estate stocks including Evergrande Group and Country Garden are listed on the HKEX.
China set its growth target at 5 per cent for 2024, but analysts have been skeptical of meeting the world’s second-largest economy. S&P Global Ratings said last week that it expects China’s GDP to grow 4.6 per cent in 202, slower than the 5.2 per cent for 2023.
HSBC research also points out that the NSE has overtaken the Shanghai Stock Exchange to become the second largest globally in terms of monthly transaction volume. But it still lagged behind the Shenzhen Stock Exchange which took the top spot.
An EY research showed that Indian stock exchanges also saw the most initial public offers (IPOs) in 2023. That is despite a subdued environment for IPOs, especially in Asia. India witnessed 220 IPOs raising $6.9 billion in proceeds, according to EY. That is a 48 jump in deal activities from 2022.
“While China’s market has significantly slowed, India has emerged as a standout performer, the EY reports underscore.
