Pakistan Tops High-Risk Markets in 2025 Stock Surge; India Misses Top 5

• 2025 stock market defied expectations, with high-risk, turnaround economies outperforming stable ones.
• Pakistan's Karachi 100 surged ~43%, becoming the top performer due to IMF support and selective buying.
• Hong Kong (Hang Seng ~40%), Japan (Nikkei ~30%), and Argentina (MERVAL ~25%) also saw significant gains.
• India's NIFTY 50 rose only ~9.5%, failing to make the top 8 globally, unlike NASDAQ (~22%) and S&P SmallCap (~33%).
• India's underperformance attributed to high valuations, mid/small-cap correction, and global "risk-on" investor sentiment.

Why It Matters: High-risk markets delivered unexpected superior returns in 2025, while India lagged due to high valuations.