** Shares of private market platform Forge Global FRGE.N up 3.5% at $15

** Piper Sandler upgrades FRGE's rating to "overweight" from "neutral"

** Brokerage believes FRGE is well positioned to benefit from the increasing focus on private markets, given its industry leading trading & data offering

** A relatively small increase in private market turnover could drive meaningful transaction revenue growth for FRGE — Piper

** Recently announced high-profile data partnerships should result in more fee-based and recurring revenue streams for FRGE in the longer term — brokerage

** FRGE has risen about 4% YTD, as of last close

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City)

((Juby.Babu@thomsonreuters.com;))