The aggregate market value of the top 50 Asia-Pacific (APAC) companies stood at $8 trillion in Q3 2021, down by about 8% from $8.7 trillion in Q2 2021, of which China accounted for more than half of the aggregate market cap, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Company Interim Reports Database reveals that the list is dominated by companies from China, which had 26 companies, followed by 11 from Japan, five from India, three from Australia, two from Hong Kong, and one each from Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The aggregate market value of the top 50 companies fell on the back of drop in value of Chinese stocks in the list, which decreased about 15% to $4.3 trillion in Q3 2021.

Parth Vala, Company Profiles Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Multiple factors such as the government’s regulatory crackdown on tech companies, lower than expected retail sales growth and industrial output and hence a cut in GDP growth forecasts by many institutions, Evergrande Group’s financial woes and heavy debt on other real estate developers, power shortages, and inflation worries led the drop in the value of Chinese stocks.”

Recruit Holdings, Sea Ltd, and Reliance Industries were the top performers, whose market values grew by 20% or more.

Recruit Holdings continued to beat market expectations in the quarter ended June 2021, as it posted 39.8% growth in revenue, 292.6% increase in operating income, and 248.8% rise in net profitability compared to the prior year period.

Sea Ltd’s market value improved on account of exceptional growth in its digital entertainment, e-commerce and other services, and sales of goods businesses, which reported year-on-year (y-o-y) growth of about 167%, 174%, and 92%, respectively. The digital entertainment segment witnessed 45% and 85% y-o-y rise in its active users and paying users, respectively; while its e-commerce business reported 127% growth in orders and 88% growth in gross merchandise value.

Reliance Industries’ push into renewable energy space, especially acceleration of its solar energy projects, and progress on the deal with Saudi Aramco have got cheers from investors, which led to recent growth in its market value.

In terms of sector wise break-up, 14 technology companies featured in the top 50 with an aggregate market value of $2.9 trillion, followed by 13 financial services enterprises with a combined market value of $1.8 trillion. There were four companies each from consumer, oil and gas, and retailing with combined market value of $649.8bn, $536.5bn, and $708.5bn, respectively.

Some notable performers across these sectors were Sony Group, which reported market value growth of 15% over the previous quarter, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (13.1%), PetroChina (12.7%), Hindustan Unilever (9.6%), and Mitsubishi UFJ (9.5%).