The Indian equity benchmarks closed in the red on March 31, snapping a three-day winning streak as an eventful financial year 2021-22 drew to a close that saw the market scale new highs in October and then slide.
The 30-pack Sensex ended 115.48 points, or 0.2 percent lower, from the previous day’s close, while the Nifty was down 33.5 points, or 0.2 percent, at 17,464.75.
The year that was
Unlike the tame close on March 31, the financial year has been an eventful one for the Indian market as it witnessed to an unprecedented bull, rising to record highs in October.
The hawkish stance of the US Federal Reserve, an increase in crude prices, which rose to a 14-year high, and rising geopolitical tensions, however, turned the tide.
The new year brought more turbulence as the Russia-Ukraine crisis worsened and lead to a full-scale war after the Russians invaded their western neighbour.
The India VIX, which indicates the degree of volatility traders expect over the next 30 days, rose as high as 32 percent on February 24, the day Russian invasion began, and Indian indices saw their biggest single-day fall of 2022.
Bruised and battered, the Nifty still managed to outperform most of the global markets in FY22, with returns of 19 percent during the year.
The US’ S&P 500 and the UK’s FTSE 100 could manage returns of 16 percent and 13 percent, while the French CAC 40 appreciated by 11 percent and the tech-heavy NASDAQ rose by 9 percent.
Major Asian indices depreciated during the year, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng seeing the biggest fall at 22 percent, China’s Shanghai index was down 16 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei lost 4 percent in FY22.
On March 31, the Sensex opened higher to reach the day’s high of 58,890.92 before negative global cues dragged it to the day’s low of 58,485.79.
The Nifty, too, opened in the green to make a high of 17,559.8 before paring gains to slip to the day’s low of 17,435.2.
“Indian markets opened on a positive note following mixed Asian market cues as China’s latest manufacturing data released showed contraction,” said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers.
Traders were worried as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) lowered India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast to 7-7.2 percent for FY23, from 7.6 percent, citing rising uncertainty over Russia-Ukraine war and the resultant dampening of consumer sentiment, he added.
The International Monetary Fund, however, provided a silver lining. It said India, which received record foreign direct investment during the last few years despite COVID-19 crisis, had quite a few safeguards in place to mitigate the risks from capital flows.
Stocks & Sectors
FMCG and media stocks were the best performers, as the Nifty FMCG index gained the most at 1.2 percent and Nifty Media 0.81 percent.
Nifty realty and auto also made marginal gains while pharma and IT were the top losers among sectoral indices.
Broader markets had a better day, with the Nifty midcap and smallcap outperforming the benchmarks. The BSE midcap gained 0.29 percent and BSE smallcap 0.31 percent higher.
Hindalco, Divis Labs, Wipro, Reliance and Dr Reddy’s Labs were among the top Nifty losers, down 1.35 to 5 percent.
Among the major gainers, JSW Steel, Britannia, M&M, HUL and Tata Consumer Products were up between 1.5 and 2.1 percent.
Long build-up was seen in Hindustan Aeronautics, Tata Communications and NALCO, while short build-up was witnessed in Handalco, Vodafone Idea and Strides Pharma.
