How The Indian Markets Fared In FY23 — In Charts
Indian benchmarks ended FY23 almost flat, with the Sensex rising 0.72% and Nifty 50 falling 0.6% in the last 12 months.
The financial year 2023, that was marred by decadal high inflation, aggressive monetary policy stance by global central banks and Russia-Ukraine crisis, saw the Indian equity markets hardly return any gains to investors.
Indian benchmarks closed higher on Friday, led by gains in information technology, banking and financial stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 1.78% to close at 58,991.52, while the Nifty 50 closed 1.63% higher at 17,359.75.
Over the past one year, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.72% while the Nifty 50 declined 0.6%.
Top Index Movers In FY23
The Sensex advanced led by gains in ITC Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., NTPC Ltd., Hindustan Unilever Ltd., and Larsen & Toubro Ltd.
Wipro Ltd., Divi's Laboratories Ltd., Hindalco Industries Ltd., Tech Mahindra Ltd., and Bajaj Finserv Ltd. trailed the Nifty in the last 12 months, ending with losses.
Top Sectoral Performers In FY23
Sector-wise, Nifty PSU Bank gained the most in the last 12 months, rising more than 36%, while Nifty Media index was the worst performer, with declines of over 28%.
Mid Vs Small Caps
The Nifty MidCap 100 outperformed the benchmarks, while the Nifty SmallCap 100 underperformed.
Nifty MidCap 100 rose 1.15% over the past 12 months, with gains in Indian Bank, TVS Motor Co, Union Bank of India, Apollo Tyres Ltd. and Bank of India leading the pack.
Nifty SmallCap 100 declined 13.8% in fiscal 2023. Declines in Brightcom Group Ltd., Tanla Platforms Ltd., Piramal Pharma Ltd., TV18 Broadcast Ltd. and Intellect Design Arena Ltd. dragged the index.
Indian Benchmarks Vs Global Peers
Headline indices outperformed most major global peers like the American Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 in financial year 2023.
Domestic Indian indices, however, underperformed the Euro Stoxx 50, CAC 40, FTSE 100 and Japanese Nikkei 225.
Nifty Bank Index In FY23
Nifty Bank index gained 11.6% in fiscal 2023, led by gains in Bank of Baroda Ltd, IDFC First Bank Ltd., Federal Bank Ltd., Punjab National Bank Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd.
Rupee Weakened Against The U.S. Dollar In FY23
The Indian rupee has weakened by Rs 6.39 to 82.18 on Friday, from 75.79, against the U.S. dollar a year ago, according to Bloomberg data.
Rupee weakened by 8.44% in the last 12 months against the greenback.
The spot price of gold rose 2.19% to $1,980.06 from $1,937.44 a year ago.
Meanwhile, the price of brent crude declined 26.2% to $79.57.
The Road Ahead For FY24
With inflation slowing down over the last few months, it would be important to see how this pans out in the first half of FY24, along with the developing situation of banking sector in U.S. and Europe, said Srikanth Subramanian, chief executive officer at Kotak Cherry.
Pointing out that the regional banks, specifically in the U.S., are battling a crisis of confidence, Subramanian said that many customers are seen adopting "flight to safety". He estimates that volatility will persist as markets head into fiscal 2024.
The first half of the financial year, according to Subramanian, will be "interesting to take note of how policymakers, both in the U.S. and Europe, support the financial system, as access to liquidity and assurances to deposit holders will ultimately help soothe investors' nerves".
He said that interest rates near peak levels signal a good time for people to look at bonds as an asset class, to take advantage of the high yields.
Overall, the situation seems uncertain as to how the various global macro situations unfold, Subramanian said. "One should also continue doing staggered investments via SIP so that they can take advantage of the market volatility."