Mumbai, Dec 31:
Indian shares ended flat on Thursday, finishing a pandemic-ravaged year in which the equity benchmarks battled economic uncertainties to come out stronger, thanks to vaccine optimism and a slew of liquidity support measures.The Nifty rose 14.9% to clock its best year since 2017, while the Sensex gained 15.75%.
The Nifty was flat at 13,981.75 after rising briefly to life-time high of 14,024.85 and the Sensex closed 0.01% higher at 47,751.33 on Thursday, as losses in IT firms and Reliance Industries offset gains in private sector lenders.
It was a volatile last day of trade for the market, with the BSE benchmark inching up 5.11 points to reach its new closing record of 47,751.33. For the entire year, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms zoomed by Rs 32,49,689.56 crore to reach Rs 1,88,03,518.60 crore.
Sensex gained 15.7 percent in a memorable year 2020, where the BSE benchmark saw both ruthless selling and massive buying. Markets witnessed volatile trends during the year, with the benchmark crashing to its one-year low of 25,638.9 on March 24, only to roar back to its record high of 47,896.97 on the last day of trade.
During the entire year, the 30-share BSE Sensex made monthly gains in seven, while closing with losses in five of them. March proved to be dreadful for Dalal Street, with the Sensex plunging a massive 8,828.8 points or 23 percent during the month as concerns related to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy jolted investor sentiments.“Calendar year 2021 will be marked with hopes of early roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine, normalisation of activities and unperturbed growth recovery,” Jaideep Hansraj, MD and CEO of Kotak Securities said in a note.The gap between large-cap shares and their smaller peers was sharp. The BSE MidCap index gained 19.87% this year, while the BSE SmallCap index jumped 32.11%.
The Nifty IT index rallied 55% in 2020, logging its best year since 2013, while the Nifty Phrama index logged a 60.6% rise.
Financials were among the worst performers this year, with the Nifty PSU bank index sliding more than 30%.On Thursday, the IT index closed down 0.32% and the Pharma index settled 0.72% higher.
Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries Ltd closed down 1.6% and 0.51%, respectively, and were the top drag on the Nifty.
Private sector lenders were the top boost as HDFC Bank Ltd closed 0.27% higher and ICICI Bank Ltd added 1.1%.
Meanwhile, hopes of a speedy economic recovery in 2021 amid COVID-19 vaccine rollouts kept global investor mood upbeat.