New Delhi, May 10 (IANS): After a muted March, the Indian stock market rose 4.5 per cent in April, with the Nifty 50 rising 4.0 per cent while mid and smallcaps rose 5.2 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.

This clearly highlights that good buying happened in the midcap and smallcap space due to good value offered by companies in those segments, according to Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company's (MOAMC) Global Market Snapshot report.

Amid input cost inflation, the real estate sector outperformed with staggering returns of 14.9 per cent, followed by auto and banks at 7.7 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively, while energy, FMCG, healthcare and metal sectors continued to rally and rose 4 per cent, 4,2 per cent, 5.5 per cent, and 5.5 per cent in April, respectively. However, the IT sector gave negative returns of 3.5 per cent.

The value factor outperformed the momentum factor by rising 5.9 per cent, followed by the momentum and quality factor, rising 5.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively.

All the sectors contributed positively to the rise of the Nifty 500 in April, barring IT, which dragged the overall performance due to below estimate growth in income.

Financial services surprised positively by contributing 2 per cent (highest) to the overall rise of 4.5 per cent of Nifty 500 in April 2023.

In April, S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 1.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, but on a year-to-date basis, Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 were up 21 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, despite bank runs, tech layoffs, and looming recession fears.

The Dow rose 2.4 per cent in April. The developed and emerging markets moved opposite in April; emerging markets fell by 4.6 per cent on the back of China and Taiwan falling 5.2 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively, while the developed markets rose 2.7 per cent, led by UK and Switzerland, which rose 5 per cent and 5.3 per cent in April, respectively.

Cryptocurrencies had a good run, with Bitcoin and Ethereum gaining 3 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively. Bitcoin has risen 43 per cent in the last six months.

Gold and silver were again at centre stage when global high inflation woes have worried the investors. So, unsurprisingly, gold and silver rose by 20 per cent and 29 per cent in the last six months, respectively, the report said.