WAVE OF POSITIVITY AHEAD

India maintains the highest macro-economic performance among its peers and continues to be one of the most captivating nations in the emerging market space

- PRADEEP GUPTA

IT HAS BEEN A great year for stock markets around the world, with the S&P 500 delivering 20 per cent returns, Dow Jones at an all-time high, and even Japan touching its highest levels since 1989. The benchmark Sensex surged past 70,000 levels for the first time in early trade on December 11, with 70 per cent of the last 10,000 points taking just 31 days to reach. On December 10, the Nifty 50 tested the 21,000-mark.

As per data by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global inflation levels are expected to cool down to 6.9 per cent from 8.7 per cent in the previous year. This cooling of inflation has raised expectations about a pause in rate hikes followed by rate cuts by 2024 end.

While central banks across the world may consider pausing rate hikes and even resort to rate cuts in the latter part of 2024, there is certainly no going back to the lows that followed 2008-2009. A recent report by Vanguard stated that for the next decade, the US sock markets could return to their 4.2 per cent - 6.2 per cent range and they are forecasting stronger potential returns from the emerging markets.