NEW DELHI: Even as the domestic equity market has gained substantially in the past a few months and now trading close to its all-time high, the co-founder and CEO of the country’s largest stockbroker- Zerodha - does not feel like a bull run.
“Markets are back at all-time highs, but it doesn’t feel like a bull run because retail activity isn’t picking up. Active clients on NSE, Google & social media trends are way below all-time highs. Unlikely that activity will pick up given the higher interest rate environment,” Nithin Kamath of Zerodha wrote on Twitter.
BSE Sensex on Friday jumped 467 points to close at 63,385; while the broader NSE Nifty moved 138 points to settle at 18,826. During the intraday session, Sensex touched a high of 63,520, 63 points away from its all-time high of 63,583. Kamath shared two graphs which showed a sustained fall in NSE active clients since June 2022 and the investors’ falling interest over time with the declining trend for the search of words Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex on Google. Active clients are referred to those who have traded once in past twelve months.
Kamath said high interest rates offered by low-risk investment options like bank FDs are luring retail investors who are wary of risk. “I keep telling our team that our competition is bank fixed-deposit rates, not our peers. Most retail investors question whether taking added equity risk is worthwhile when govt bonds and FDs yield 7%+,” he said.