The bull ride

Retail exuberance keeps stock markets going

The stock market continues to rally, ignoring a 7.3 per cent fall in 2020-21 gross domestic product (GDP) and a cruel second wave, with high mortality and job losses. A few telling numbers are being cited about the surge that has lifted the Nifty 107 per cent from its nadir in late March 2020, when the first lockdown was announced. At over $3 trillion, the market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio is now well above 100 per cent. This is the first time since 2007 that market capitalisation has passed that level. The long-term average is 77 per cent. According to investing guru