The stock market continues to record sustained growth after recording historical lows amid the pandemic. The growth is highlighted by the movement in market capitalization by the leading exchanges.
According to data acquired by Finbold, the top ten largest stock exchanges globally cumulatively grew by 15.43% or $12.12 trillion in market capitalization between January and June 2021. At the start of the year, the total market cap stood at $78.54 trillion, surging to $90.66 trillion by the end of 2021’s first half.
American-based exchanges remained dominant, with the New York Stock Exchange holding the pole position. Between the period under review, the exchange market cap surged from $21.36 trillion to $25.30 trillion. Nasdaq-US ranked second, with the market cap growing 14.32% to $22.11 trillion.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing market cap grew from $6.47 trillion to $6.80 trillion. Shanghai Stock Exchange recorded a growth of 17.08%, from $6.50n trillion to $7.61 trillion. The Japan Exchange Group market cap grew by 5.35% while Euronext had the highest growth rate at 32.17%, from $4.88 trillion to 6.45 trillion.
Other exchanges that recorded growth include LSE Group (1.09%), TMX Group (26.4%), and the National Stock Exchange of India (19.46%).
Recovering economy fuels stock market growth
The report highlights the drivers behind the growth in market cap for the exchange during the first six months of the year. According to the research report:
“In general, the inflow into the stock exchanges highlights the recovering economy due to the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines. The vaccination has been wide scale in most developed markets that host the exchanges. Sectors like air travel and energy that were crippled by the pandemic are also recovering, joining tech stocks that have mostly retained historical highs since last year.”
Furthermore, support from high corporate confidence levels and an extended great monetary and fiscal stimulus have played a vital role in the stock market’s growth.
