Global equity markets have surged to record highs in 2021 as government and central bank policies supported economic recovery, compared with the year 2020, which was hit by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, said consultancy PwC in its Global Top 100 companies by market capitalization report released in May.

The market capitalization of the Global Top 100 companies, as at March 2021, increased by 48 percent to $31.7 trillion from March 31, 2020, to March 31, 2021, read the report.

Apple tops the world in market capitalization, with Saudi Aramco and Microsoft ranked the second and third place, respectively.

China's Tencent and Alibaba ranked in the top 10 list of market capitalization, with food delivery platform Meituan recorded the second-largest increase in market capitalization in relative terms, the report said.

Let us take a look at the top 10 global companies by market capitalization.

No 1 Apple

Location: United States

Sector: Technology

Market Capitalization: $2.05 trillion

No 2 Saudi Aramco

Location: Saudi Arabia

Sector: Energy

Market Capitalization: $1.92 trillion

No 3 Microsoft

Location: United States

Sector: Technology

Market Capitalization: $1.78 trillion

No 4 Amazon

Location: United States

Sector: Consumer Discretionary

Market Capitalization: $1.56 trillion

No 5 Alphabet

Location: United States

Sector: Technology

Market Capitalization: $1.39 trillion

No 6 Facebook

Location: United States

Sector: Technology

Market Capitalization: $839 billion

No 7 Tencent

Location: China

Sector: Technology

Market Capitalization: $753 billion

No 8 Tesla

Location: United States

Sector: Consumer Discretionary

Market Capitalization: $641 billion

No 9 Alibaba

Location: China

Sector: Consumer Discretionary

Market Capitalization: $615 billion

No 10 Berkshire Hathaway

Location: United States

Sector: Financials

Market Capitalization: $588 billion