Sensex ends FY18 with 11% gain; investors richer by Rs 20.70 trillion
The benchmark BSE Sensex slumped 206 points in a see-saw trade on Wednesday to close below the 33,000-mark in the last trading session of 2017-18, but finished the year with a gain of 11.30 %.
The broader 50-share Nifty also ended 70 points lower at 10,113.70. The Sensex has gained 3,348.18 points, or 11.30 %, in 2017-18. The index had gained 16.88 % in the previous fiscal year.
Investors saw wealth addition of Rs 20.70 trillion during 2017-18. The market capitalisation of all firms listed on the BSE was at Rs 142.24 trillion against Rs 121.54 trillion as on March 31, 2017.
The broader Nifty closed the fiscal year with gains of 939.95 points, or 10.25 %. During the previous year, it scored gains of 1,435.55 points or 18.55 %.
For the day, the BSE Sensex snapped its two-session winning streak to end lower by 205.71 points, or 0.62 % at 32,968.68. Intra-day, it hovered between 33,104.11 and 32,917.66. The gauge had rallied 577.85 points in the past two sessions. The NSE Nifty, too, ended the day 70.45 points, or 0.69 % lower at 10,113.70 after shuttling between 10,158.35 and 10,096.90.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex rose 372.14 points, or 1.14 %, while the Nifty gained 115.65 points or 1.16 %. This was their first gain in five weeks.
Stock exchanges will remain closed on Thursday and Friday on account of Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday, respectively.
Tata Steel was the day’s worst performer in the Sensex pack, plunging 3.25 %, followed by Bharti Airtel at 3.05 %.
Other losers were Adani Ports, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, State Bank of India, Power Grid, Tata Motors, ITC, ONGC, Dr Reddy’s, NTPC, Axis Bank, Asian Paints and HDFC Bank, shedding up to 2.93 %.
In contrast, Wipro rose 3.27 %, Coal India 2.94 %, Hero MotoCorp 2.30 %, Kotak Bank 0.55 %, YES Bank 0.49 %, IndusInd Bank 0.43 %, L&T 0.39 %, HDFC 0.28 %, TCS 0.26 %, Hindustan Unilever 0.26 per cent and Maruti Suzuki 0.11 %. The broader market sentiment, too, remained bearish, with the small- and mid-cap indices falling 0.92 per cent and 0.53 per cent, respectively.
Sector-wise, BSE telecom fell 2.58 %, metal 2.04 %, healthcare 1.14 %, realty 1.07 %, power 1.05 %, infrastructure 0.99 %, tech 0.67 %, banking 0.65 %, PSU 0.50 %, FMCG 0.37 % and IT 0.31 %.
