Understanding stock market performance

Trying to make sense of the performance of stockmarkets from daily media updates can
be a confusing exercise. Up 25 points one day, down 18 the next - it can often seem a
completely random and unpredictable system.
Shares listed on stockmarkets represent real companies. As the value and demand for
these company shares increases so does their price. When an index is said to be
trading up or down by a number of points, this relates to the total increase or decrease
in the value of the company shares it includes.

What affects the price of shares?

Share prices reflect a company's earnings and the dividends it pays, which can be
affected by different factors. Some are obvious, such as the impact of a rising oil price
on airlines; or more open to interpretation and conjecture, such as the impact of a new
competitor entering the market, or new legislation.
It's worth remembering that unless you have invested in a tracker fund, rises or falls in
an index may not reflect the performance of your own investments, as some sectors
may not be represented in the index. Check the performance of the fund for a true
picture.

Stock Market Performance

Stock Market Performance is the indicator of the stock market as a whole or of
a specific stock. It gives signal to the investors about their future moves. The
movement in the price of a stock and the indexes gives the idea of the near
future trend of the stock, sector or the economy as a whole. As financial
domain is the most important one of an economy, so the stock market
performance works as an indicator of the overall health of the economy.

Stock Market Indexes typically gives the overall performance of the market or
of a specific sector. Indexes reflect the performance of the economy or a sector
in entirety. Stock Prices are an indicator of the performance of the stock. If the
price of a particular stock is rising then it is perceived that it has certain
positive news or signals. But, if it decreases then there must be some news
regarding its performance, which is generating negative signals to the market.
Hence, the stock price movement and index movements show the general
economic trend of a country.
Stock Market Performance is affected by a wide array of factors such as
economical, political, international, and company-specific issues. When it
comes to the overall index performance then the domestic economy's National
Income, GNP (Gross National Product) growth, PPP (Purchasing Power
Parity), Monetary issues, Political Stability, International Relations, Balanceof-Payment situation, etc. comes into consideration. But when it zeros down to
the specific stocks then the company specific information (profitability, sales,
profit margin, growth, etc.) play important role in the price determination of
the stock.
When the stock prices and the index movements show positive trend (that is,
upward movement) then we call that the stock market performance are
bullish. We call an investor to be bullish when his perceptions about the
market and the economy are positive, i.e., he is expecting further rise in prices,
and consequently is in the buying spree.
Some of the factors which boosts up the market are good present or projected
economic growth of the economy, positive monetary outlook of the apex bank,
decrease in fiscal deficit, good performance of a company in terms of profit,
sales, etc.
But when the general perception of the investors is negative then the stock
market also declines showing a bearish trend. When a person is not confident
enough to buy stocks because of his negative expectations from the economy
and sells off stocks then he is known as an investor with Bearish perceptions.
If the performance of an economy is good then the Stock Market Performance
is also good and bull markets are inevitable. Performance of an index (or a
stock) might exceed that of the actual performance of the economy (or a
company) because the expectations of the investors might cross the actual
performance of the same. Thus Bull Run encounters correction of indexes or

stocks from time-to-time, which is actually a healthy sign.

If the economic performances are not up to the mark then the stock market is
most likely to under perform and might see a downward trend. This
downward movement of the market is known as Bearish Market.
Bullish/bearish market may sustain for weeks or months with temporary rally
known as secondary trend (or short term). When bullish/bearish market runs
continue from 5 to 20 years with occasional corrections then it is known as
Secular Trend (Long Term).
Hence, overall economic and stock specific performance influences
performance of the market. Thus, Stock Market Performance acts as the
barometer of the economy as a whole.