Sensex, Nifty end Samvat 2076 with 10% gains despite coronavirus attack, Brexit, other ups and downs

Sensex and Nifty ended Samvat 2076 with about 10 per cent gains since Diwali last year, despite ups and downs of coronavirus and other global events in the year 2020. Stock markets around the world witnessed a slew of events in the last one year, ranging from US-China trade talks to Brexit to COVID-19 pandemic. From 42,273.87 points in January this year, BSE Sensex plummeted to a 52-week low of 25,639 in March. Staging a sharp recovery, markets first scaled back to a 10-month high this month and then climbed up to make a new all-time high of 43708.47 on November 11, 2020. Samvat 2076 remained equally good as the previous Samvat 2075, despite severe meltdown that the global markets witnessed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, according to the analysts.

At the end of Samvat 2076, Nifty 50 has posted another gain of 1,137 points or nearly 10 per cent for this year. While at the end of the previous Samvat, the Nifty 50 had ended at 11,583 while posting gains of 1,053 points or 10 per cent. “In Samvat 2076, the bulk of the recovery was led by the financial stocks, banks and other high beta participants which led the markets to a V-Shaped recovery as the Nifty 50 gained more than what it had lost during the outbreak of the pandemic,” Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA, Consulting Technical Analyst, Gemstone Equity Research & Advisory Services, told Financial Express Online.

During Samvat 2076, a good relief was granted to the mid-cap and small-cap investors where many stocks doubled and even tripled from the March 2020 lows. Many opportunities were created especially in the Pharma and IT space, Rajesh Palviya, Head Technical & Derivatives, Axis Securities, told Financial Express Online. Pharma stocks saw some good momentum, after having largely underperformed in the last five years. Banks also largely managed well during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Due to various packages provided by the government, liquidity is no more an issue for the banks,” Palviya added.