As if wanting to be an antidote to the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian stock market adorned carnival robes in 2021 with a tsunami of liquidity unleashed by global central banks coupled with supportive domestic policies and the world's largest vaccination drive sparking off a world-beating rally on Dalal Street, despite bouts of uneasiness over fizzy valuations. While the wider economy shuttled between recovery and relapse, dictated by multiple mutations of the virus, equity market benchmarks appeared headed in just one direction -- skywards. The dizzying upward journey has added a whopping Rs 72 lakh crore during 2021 to investors' wealth, measured as the cumulative value of all listed shares in the country, taking it to nearly Rs 260 lakh crore.
A recent report by Citi had pegged the total amount stuck in stalled projects across seven major Indian cities (Bengaluru, Mumbai Metropolitan region, National Capital Region, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune) at Rs 80,000 crore.
IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying up to 46 per cent. Other winners were Bharti Airtel, L&T, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, HUL and HDFC -- rising up to 10 per cent. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma and Reliance Industries closed with losses. NSE Nifty finished 323.60 points, or 3.89 per cent, up at 8,641.45.
The global COVID-19 situation, rollout of vaccines, geopolitical trends, Union Budget and economic recovery would be the major factors driving investor sentiments in 2021 after a tumultuous year which saw both 'the worst of times and the best of times' for the stock market, said analysts. What a year 2020 turned out to be! From witnessing gigantic losses to record-shattering gains, investors went on a roller-coaster ride amid the coronavirus pandemic and massive stimulus measures. Markets closed 2020 with remarkable gains of around 16 per cent, but will the winning ways continue in 2021 as well?
Auto, pharma, IT, chemicals among sectors with significant reliance on UK and European nations with Tata Motors, Motherson Sumi, Tata Steel, TCS, Wipro, Infosys and Tech M among key names.
Yes Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 6.74 per cent, followed by TCS, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, M&M and RIL.
Concerns over economic slowdown, muted earnings, crisis in the auto industry and global trade issues have been weighing on investor sentiment, experts said.
A weak economy coupled with rising Covid-19 cases and inflation that is above RBI's comfort zone, geopolitical developments, and upcoming India Inc's second quarter results for FY21 could impact sentiment, analysts say.
'A bold, progressive step forward,' Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Uday Kotak said of Nirmala Sitharaman's corporate tax breaks.
While Geojit Financial Services and Kotak Securities are already managing large NRI portfolios in West Asian countries, Sharekhan, yet another local brokerage outfit, recently launched a broking platform called India First in Bangkok for NRI clients.
The broader NSE Nifty, on the other hand, ended 2.70 points, or 0.02 per cent, lower at 11,555.90 in its third straight day of losses.
On Friday, shares of Tata Motors rose by 2.68 per cent and Tata Steel went up by 1.85 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The NSE Nifty settled at 10,234.65, down 225.45 points, or 2.16 per cent.
The actual expenditure will only be marginally higher and hence, the multiplier effect will be muted.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
It appears that most experts feel that domestic markets are reacting to the fall seen in the global markets.\n\nHere's how experts view the turbulence today?
SBI was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, shedding 2.40 per cent, followed by Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, L&T, Sun Pharma, M&M, ICICI Bank, ONGC, RIL, Asian Paints, Vedanta and HUL, which lost up to 2.37 per cent.
'The news about the new virus strain in the UK provided them with an opportunity to take money off the table.'
While capital appreciation is better, paying regular dividend indicates that the company is making profits and is rewarding investors.
Over the past one-and-half years, the number of stocks trading below their respective face value has increased 29 per cent after a sharp correction in stocks of small-cap companies.
Reason for rejection hasn't been stated; deal among seven rejected transactions.
After a sharp sell-off in the past two months, overseas investors were once again seen turning bullish on Indian equities. FIIs bought shares worth Rs 63.5 billion in the past five sessions, their highest weekly investment tally in many months.
From its all-time peak of 38,989.65 scaled on August 29 this year, the Sensex has fallen by 2,921.32 points, or 7.5 per cent, to 36,068.33.
'The announcement has come too late. This should have been done years ago.'
The NSE Nifty cracked below the 10,800-mark to hit a low of 10,753.05 intra-day, before closing at 10,762.45 with a loss of 59.40 points, or 0.55 per cent.
TCS is the country's most valued firm with a market capitalisation of Rs 687,123.96 crore
Infosys was the worst performer among the bluechips on both the key indices.
The Street was following the Karnataka election closely as a test for the Modi-led BJP's prospects in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. Investors, however, are likely to wait for the next round of state elections to judge whether the momentum is still with it.
Amid heated debate on algorithm based trades, ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala today backed this form of trading, and questioned the need to regulate it.
Progress of monsoon, investment trend by foreign investors and the movement of rupee against the dollar will also influence sentiment
Life insurers are launching these again. Invest if you are conservative.
Small stocks made a dashing comeback in 2020 after delivering negative returns in the last two years as increased retail investor participation in pandemic times saw small-cap index surging up to 31 per cent and outperforming the bigger benchmark gauge. This year turned out to be eventful for the equity market, witnessing bearish and bullish sentiments at different points of time. While the initial part of COVID-ravaged 2020 saw the bears in full force amid concerns related to the pandemic and lockdowns hurting economic activities, bulls made a comeback towards the latter half of the year. As the market swayed with many lows as well as highs, small and mid-cap indices emerged as markets favourites in 2020.
The broader NSE Nifty index too finished lower by 4.80 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 10,632.20.
Gold prices are already moving fast to the key level of Rs 30,000 per 10 gms
The BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices pared all intraday gains to end 0.3% and 0.5% lower
NTPC was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, rising by 3.53 per cent. Coal India, ONGC and Sun Pharma also rose up to 2.41 per cent.
Shares of IT companies were in focus with the Nifty IT and S&P BSE IT index gaining more than 2% in an otherwise lower market
The NSE Nifty also gained 53 points, or 0.49 per cent, to settle 10,855.15 after shuttling between 10,870.40 and 10,749.40.
Bank shares were the top losers along with index heavyweight RIL
Experts said a future rate cut would depend on the inflation.
