A lookback: 24 events that shaped the stock markets in 2024

The year 2024 was an exciting one for the stock markets. It was during this period that we saw an increased participation from the retail segment. Even when foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were moving out of the market, their impact had been limited. Small- and mid-cap companies have remained resilient, while Trent has been the best-performing stock among large-caps. But there was more. ET Prime has curated a list of 24 interesting factoids about the markets in the year gone by.1. In January, India overtook Hong Kong as the world’s fourth-largest stock market by market capitalisation for the first time. Subsequently, the country also achieved the milestone of crossing $5trn market cap for the first time in May. However, in between, the two nations had alternated the fourth position. In October, Hong Kong’s market, which is influenced largely by Chinese firms, reclaimed the fourth spot following stimulus measures announced by China. Currently, India is in the fourth spot with a market cap of $4.32trn, according to CompaniesMarketCap. The US leads the chart with a market cap of $61.4trn.2. Resourceful Automobile, a two-showroom bike dealer got 400x subscription, though its listing was flat. However, the company’s ₹12 crore IPO got media attention across the world. This IPO shows the greed of retail investors to make a quick buck out of stock markets. It is something that investors have been doing for the past three years. Interestingly, 2024 was the year of mid-, small- and micro-caps. While large-cap stocks were off-radar for investors, value investors are betting on this segment for 2025. In 2024, the SME index was up 143%. It was also a year when stocks got re-rated and some companies managed to show a record rise in their ROEs (return on equity), and thus their market cap. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/XS1bOQdBIGo?si=cTgD60XQynvf9vjl3. The year 2024 belonged to the US. Over the past year, the S&P 500 has moved up by 26% while the Nifty 50 was up almost 9%. This was also the year when technology stocks ruled in the US markets. The Magnificent Seven stocks accounted for 35% of the total market cap of the S&P 500 at $46trn. As far as the Nifty 50 was concerned, bank stocks accounted for 28% of the index and over the past many years this has not changed. Interestingly, unlike the Magnificent Seven, the banking stocks have not moved. The Nifty Bank is up only 6% over the past year and this is where value buyers want to bet for 2025.4. On June 28, the market cap of Reliance Industries (RIL) hit the ₹21 lakh crore milestone as target prices rose on Jio’s tariff hikes. RIL shares hit a record high after Jio’s pricing move, driving positive outlook from global brokerages and potential sector re-rating.5. Trent was the best-performing large-cap stock in the past year. The stock zoomed up 136% with revenue growth of 37% annually for the past five years and PAT (profit after tax) growth of 73% during the same period.6. Hyundai Motor India is experiencing today what Paytm did when it debuted on the bourses three years ago — a sliding stock performance such that even its high price till date is still lower than its issue price. Of course, Paytm and Hyundai are fundamentally two different companies. Hyundai, for instance, is profitable and has a high ROCE (return on capital employed). Nevertheless, investors preferred to stay away from it. This massive IPO at ₹27,870 crore came to the market after a gap of more than a year with the last one being LIC at a size of ₹27,000 crore. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/k9Y9Xl-vp5Y?si=CTUu8mG9HoJ2DI8-7. Food-delivery giant Zomato finally reported its first annual profit in FY24, marking a major milestone for India’s startup ecosystem and boosting investor confidence in tech IPOs. Zomato doubled the average monthly transacting customers of its quick-commerce business in 2024 to nearly 9mn as of September 30. In September 2023, its quick-commerce average monthly transacting customers were 4.7mn. On the food delivery side, the company has an average monthly transacting customer base of 20.7mn as of September end.8. Vibhor Steel Tubes, which got listed in February, was the most successful IPO of 2024. The stock listed at ₹425 and closed at ₹446, amassing a premium of 195.5% for IPO investors. The IPO price was ₹151 per share on the NSE.9. Among ace investors having a portfolio of around ₹1,000 crore, Vijay Kedia and Ajay Upadhyaya have topped the charts with the value of their portfolio increasing 12.2% and 20%, respectively, shows data from Trendlyne.10. The mutual fund industry’s assets under management (AUM) experienced remarkable growth in 2024, reaching ₹68.08 lakh crore by November — a 35.5% increase from ₹50.24 lakh crore in 2023. Retail investors, particularly those investing through SIPs, played a pivotal role in driving this growth. Positive market sentiment and strong returns further bolstered investor confidence, keeping mutual funds at the forefront of wealth management. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/99cX0mb93zw?si=WiTNCg2vWoGvv7jt11. Mid- and small-cap funds, alongside thematic sectoral funds, emerged as the top performers, benefiting from sector-specific growth and heightened retail investor enthusiasm. Mid- and small-cap indices had a stellar year, while funds focusing on healthcare and technology sectors delivered exceptional returns, capitalising on economic recovery and rapid innovation. Thematic funds, particularly those centered around technology, healthcare and renewable energy, saw significant inflows, with investor interest further amplified by the growing prominence of ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing.12. By November, monthly SIP contributions surged to ₹25,320 crore, marking a 44% rise from ₹17,610 crore in December 2023. Thematic funds attracted ₹7,657 crore by November, even as inflows dipped slightly from ₹12,278 crore in October. Sectoral and thematic funds collectively recorded inflows of ₹1.4 lakh crore by November, boosted by 40 new fund offerings (NFOs) that raised over ₹67,000 crore.13. In September, Groww recorded a 3.1% growth month-on-month in client count at 12.3mn clients. Its market share rose to 25.6%. In comparison, Zerodha’s client count rose by 1.1% to 8mn, its market share declined to 16.6% during the same period. Angel One reported a 3.1% increase to 7.4mn clients, with a market share of 15.4% and Upstox rose 1.5% to 2.8mn clients, but its market share dropped to 5.9%.14. India was the top recipient for remittances for 2024 with an estimated inflow of $129bn, according to the World Bank. This accounts for nearly a fifth of the total remittances of $685bn to low- and middle-income countries. The growth rate of remittances in 2024 is estimated to be 5.8%, higher than 1.2% registered in 2023. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/cAL9j_d36xw?si=ynKPrBKjUXGmlJQ915. India crossed 100mn credit cards in 2024. Though the growth in the issuance of newer cards has slowed since late 2023 amid regulatory scrutiny and concerns over late payments and defaults, the latest data showed outstanding cards stood at 107mn compared to 96mn a year ago. HDFC Bank is the most aggressive among peers in issuing new cards. The country’s second-largest and only listed credit card company SBI Cards has seen a rise in defaults. Its share price is down nearly 13%.16. India’s foreign exchange reserves crossed the $700bn mark for the first time in September. With this, India became the fourth country after China, Japan and Switzerland to have crossed the $700bn mark of forex reserves. Since then, India’s forex reserves have fallen to around $644bn likely due to RBI’s intervention to prevent a sharp fall in the rupee against the dollar. Recently, the RBI said that forex reserves are equivalent to more than 11 months of imports and about 96% of external debt outstanding at end-June.17. In November, yields on China’s long-term sovereign bond fell below Japan’s for the first time. The yield of 30-year Chinese bonds had fallen below 2%. After being stuck below 1%, yield on similar maturity Japanese bonds has risen to around 2.28%. This crossover in yields has led to debate over the so-called “Japanication” of the Chinese economy characterised by entrenched deflation.18. The year 2024 undoubtedly belonged to Bitcoin. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were launched in January. Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential polls in November provided further impetus to Bitcoin. In terms of returns, crypto has left other asset classes far behind. In the past year, Bitcoin prices have risen 142%, whereas S&P 500 and gold have returned nearly 32% each in that period. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/_pQhBnnLVoo?si=LXFzjmEMwgwd1WN119. Despite competition from cryptocurrencies, gold prices continued to gallop for most of 2024, rising almost 32% with central banks across the globe loading up on gold as part of their reserves. Emerging-market central banks, including India, increased their gold holdings to diversify away from the dollar-led financial system. Physical gold holding of the RBI stood at 822.10 tonnes as of March 31, as compared to 618.16 tonnes as of March 31, 2020. At the end of September, the RBI’s gold reserves further rose to 854 tonnes, as it continued its buying spree of the yellow metal. Globally, central banks now collectively hold nearly 20% of all gold ever mined.20. The year was also when US Fed chairman Jerome Powell said in September that it has “begun the cutting cycle now” and announced a 50 basis point cut, taking the cumulative reduction in its target range for federal funds rate to 100 basis points in 2024. While the Fed has recently tempered expectations of aggressive cuts going ahead, two more rate reductions are expected next year. The difference between Indian interest rates and US interest rates is at a low. This makes Indian markets unattractive to foreign investors.21. In the September quarter, the growth rate of the Indian economy hit a seven-quarter low of 5.4% amid a manufacturing slump and deceleration in private consumption and investment. The RBI reduced its GDP growth projection for 2024-25 to 6.6% from 7.2% earlier. On the other hand, inflation hit a 14-month high of 6.2% in October — creating a challenge of slow growth and high inflation for India. Falling growth, alongside corporate earnings below expectations, has dampened investors’ enthusiasm.22. Another eventful change to tax laws in the Union Budget in July adversely affected the post-tax returns of investors. Tax outgo for long- and short-term investors went up by 25% and 33%, respectively. An increase to 20% from 15% in short-term capital gains tax and to 12.5% from 10% in long-term capital gains tax, along with the introduction of taxes on buybacks, have affected the sentiment among investors. Taxes were also raised steeply for the futures and options segment.23. Around 4,59,650 housing units worth about ₹5.68 lakh crore were sold in 2024 in the top seven cities of India as against 4,76,530 units worth about ₹4.88 lakh crore in 2023. Housing sales are down 4% in 2024 across the top seven cities. New launches in the top seven cities showed a 7% annual decline — from 4,45,770 units in 2023 to around 4,12,520 units in 2024, according to Anarock.24. Among the top 11 listed real estate companies, Bengaluru-based Prestige Group — with 75mn sq ft — has the highest new supply planned over the next few years. Prestige has trumped other significantly larger players like Macrotech, DLF and Godrej, shows data from Anarock. Of this, the company has launched just 10.05mn sq ft (or 13%) in H1 FY2025 across geographies. In early September, the group indicated an overall project pipeline of at least 60mn sq ft.