Nikkei Up 18% YTD; India’s Sensex Down 9%

Japan’s Nikkei 225 led a nine-index global watchlist with an 18.2% year-to-date gain through May 4, 2026. India’s BSE SENSEX declined 9.3% over the same period. Six of the nine indexes on the watchlist were trading in positive territory through that date.

The watchlist tracks the S&P 500, Canada’s TSX, England’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAXK, France’s CAC 40, Japan’s Nikkei 225, China’s Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and India’s BSE SENSEX. Through May 4, Canada’s TSX rose 6.1% year to date and the S&P 500 gained 5.2%. Germany’s DAXK fell 3.2% and France’s CAC 40 declined 2.2%.

The monitoring period for the figures runs through May 4, 2026. An accompanying table shows each index’s current level, its all-time high, the date of that peak and the distance from that record level.

For consistency, the German index reported is DAXK, a price-only measure that excludes dividends and aligns with the other national indexes in the dataset.

Longer-term comparisons used several start dates. One chart measures returns since the March 9, 2009 lows; the Nikkei’s low occurred on March 10, 2009 and the DAXK hit its low on March 6. The Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng registered earlier lows on November 4, 2008 and October 27, 2008, respectively. Other visuals start on October 9, 2007 and at the turn of the century. Each series is indexed to a common baseline and percent changes are shown from the chosen start dates to the latest weekly close.

The review lists example exchange-traded funds for country-specific exposure, including WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (DXJ), WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ), KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA), iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF (EWH), iShares MSCI Canada ETF (EWC) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY).