It is by now a much-repeated story. Despite the devastation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, punters in global financial markets have had a field day. If there is one location where the pandemic has not been able to wreck damage, it is the market for equity and bonds worldwide. This has been true in Asia in general, and in India, as well.
Having initially suffered a hit at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second quarter of 2020, when the virulence and implications of the pandemic began to be recognised, markets soon recovered. However, evidence from Bloomberg on four representative emerging markets in Asia (India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand) suggest that there have been significant differences in market trends in South-East Asia, on the one hand, and India, on the other (Chart 1). While a market recovery in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand was…
