Mumbai, Dec 31 : India’s equity markets rose like a phoenix to end the volatility-filled 2020 on a high, as new retail investors and foreign funds reposed their faith in the country’s growth story.
The S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty50 rose by 16 and 15 per cent, respectively, during the pandemic-hit year.
Market watchers contend that the year-on-year growth might seem modest, but the fact remains that India’s two benchmark equity indices rose over 80 per cent from their lows recorded in the initial few months of 2020.
“Nifty was quite sedate in 2019 as compared to 2020. The volatility in the indices in 2020 was much higher than that in 2019,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
“In 2020, we witnessed a sharp fall in February, March 2020 and then a gradual recovery towards lifetime highs. However, on a year-end-to-year-end basis, Nifty gained 12 per cent in 2019 and 14.8 per cent in 2020, meaning that the annual point-to-point returns for both years are not very different.” On a global level, indices in the US, South Korea and Taiwan were ahead of the Indian indices, while those in the UK, Russia, France and Hong Kong ended on a negative note for the year.
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