Nifty holds its ground in the first week of 2024

After closing 2023 on a high, the Indian equity market saw a slow start to 2024. In the week that ended 5 January, the benchmark Nifty 50 index was down 0.1% week on week in local currency terms. Having said that, India was on a better footing than its Asian peers. Last week the Nifty outperformed the emerging market index by 225 basis points (bps) and the Asia Ex Japan index by 244 bps, according to data collated by Jefferies. (One basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point.) In India, realty and utilities were the biggest outperformers, while metals and information technology led the underperformers. On Monday, the Nifty 50 was marginally down in early trade.