A sharp rebound in Indian stocks this quarter has just seen their weighting rise to the second spot in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, trailing only China’s.
With 108 members, India’s country weight stands at 14.483 percent as of last month, MSCI data showed.
That is a whisker above 14.48 percent for Taiwan, which has 84 companies in the MSCI EM gauge, including the most-weighted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). China continues to dominate with about a third of the index weighting.
Photo: CNA
India’s S&P BSE Sensex has jumped 11 percent this quarter, the world’s best performance among national benchmarks in countries with a stock market value of at least US$1 trillion, data showed.
Driven by a retail investing boom, Indian stocks were the world’s best performers between early 2020 and October last year. Thereafter, rising concerns about aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve caused foreign investors to withdraw a record US$33 billion from local shares in the nine months through June.
Overseas funds have been strong this quarter, pumping in US$7.6 billion and supercharging the market. The Sensex is now less than 5 percent away from its all-time high reached in October last year.
There has been a big variance in China and India weightings in the emerging market gauge over the past two years as their market performance diverged — with a regulatory crackdown and stringent COVID-19 curbs causing investors to flee Chinese stocks.
While China’s weighting has fallen 9 percentage points since August 2020, India’s has jumped more than 6 points, the data showed.
“Economic impact of China’s lockdown and the ‘zero COVID’ policy is being seen now, while India is emerging stronger month-by-month,” Alder Capital Partners LP investment manager Rakhi Prasad said. “India’s weight in the emerging markets can be higher, but how much it goes from here will depend on its economy’s performance.”
As global equities struggle after the Fed’s hawkish rhetoric, Southeast Asia’s growth outlook is making the region an investor favorite.
The benchmark MSCI ASEAN Index has fared much better than the broader MSCI Asia Pacific Index, and is set to outperform a gauge of global stocks for a third straight quarter.
“We are remaining focused on India and Southeast Asia markets,” BNP Paribas SA head of Asia Pacific equity research Manishi Raychaudhuri said. “These are not only growing in terms of economic revival post-COVID, but also strongly growing in terms of the earnings estimates.”
Such views are echoed by Credit Suisse Group AG strategists, who in a note last week said they remain overweight on ASEAN, with their favorite market being Thailand. South Korea and Taiwan are their biggest underweights.
Most of the region’s biggest economies are expected to grow at least 5 percent this year, Bloomberg estimates showed, with the scrapping of pandemic-era restrictions offering a key boost.
The composition of Southeast Asia’s equity benchmarks — low tech weighting and a relatively high ratio of bank shares — is also favorable in a rising global interest-rate environment.
Forward earnings estimates for MSCI’s Southeast Asia gauge gained nearly 4 percent since the start of the quarter, amid a 1.5 percent decline for the world index.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
STABLE RESULTS: Despite June’s lower consolidated revenue, second-quarter sales still reached a record high, driven by demand for chips for AI applications Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$263.71 billion (US$9.02 billion) for last month, its second-lowest monthly result this year. The world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement that its revenue last month only fared better than the NT$260.01 billion posted in February. Last month’s figure rose 26.9 percent from a year earlier, but slumped 17.7 percent from May, the company said. However, second-quarter revenue reached NT$933.8 billion, a record high for a single quarter, company data showed. The figure represented growth of 11.26 percent from the first quarter and 38.6 percent from a year earlier. Previously, TSMC said that
RSS