MUMBAI: The stock market ended Samvat year 2080 (that follows one of the Indian calendars) on Thursday on a negative note with the sensex down 553 points at 79,389 points, near its three-month low level. On the NSE, Nifty closed lower, at 24,205 points, down 136 points.
The closing month of the year saw strong selling by foreign funds that shaved off about 6% from each of the leading indices. This, however, was in contrast to the gains in the stock market that also created wealth at unprecedented pace. Consider this: Since last Diwali (the day Samvat year starts) on Nov 12, investors’ wealth in India has jumped Rs 128 lakh crore (about $1.5 trillion at current exchange rate) to Rs 453 lakh crore. This made Samvat 2080 the biggest wealth-creating year on record.
The gains came on the back of a stable govt at the centre, smart handling of the inflationary scenario despite geopolitical uncertainties, strong macroeconomic fundamentals and record inflows by domestic funds which was at Rs 4.7 lakh crore. According to Shripal Shah, MD & CEO of Kotak Securities, despite the geopolitical concerns, domestic events like elections, a good monsoon, strong macro indicators and Sebi continuous efforts to protect investors have all contributed to a robust and promising market ecosystem. “Notably, we’ve seen a surge of eager new investors keen to be part of India’s growth story.”
On Thursday, NSE, the country’s leading bourse, said that its investor base had crossed 20 crore. And in the mutual fund sector while the total assets managed by the industry was at about Rs 68 lakh crore, monthly gross inflows through the systematic investment plan (SIP) route was nearing the Rs 25,000-crore mark. All the three numbers are at life-high levels. The year also saw gold, the most loved precious metal among Indians move to the second position in terms of annual returns. Compared to silver’s 37% gain during the year, gold’s was 33%.
Among the popular investment opportunities, Bitcoin, with a return of 72% was the best-performing asset class. On the side of the returns spectrum, rupee and crude oil barely generated any return. The year was also witness to an unusual event when the opposition parties were gunning for Sebi chief’s resignation on the back of allegations of conflict of interest, charges that the regulatory head denied The coming year, Samvat 2081, could be a challenging year for Indian equities.