When push comes to sell, every high has a downside

Indian equities ended the financial year to March 31 on a positive note, but gains were modest against the previous fiscal year and compared with many other global markets.

A wave of selling pressure from foreigners in the second-half of April-March eroded most of the gains, pushing indices to multi-month lows and denting overall sentiment. India, the world’s fifth-largest equity market in value, lagged behind more than six major global markets, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, China, the UK, Taiwan and the US as foreign investors turned bearish on India on account of slowing growth concerns and expensive share valuations.

Even after the recent declines, India remains the second-most expensive country after the US with the Price to Earnings (PE) ratio — a popular valuation measure — at 20.97 times compared with nearly 10 times of Chinese stocks.

Agencies