Indian Stock Market Recap: Starting the Calendar Year 2023 (CY23) with a downtrend, the Indian stock markets later on experienced a significant rally with the Nifty 50 index delivering year-to-date returns of 19 percent and the Sensex delivering year-to-date returns of 18 percent. The markets witnessed the launch of more than 50 mainboard IPOs and some of the outperforming sectors include defense, realty, auto, PSEs, etc.
On the domestic front, India, despite recessionary pressures in other developed economies, became the fifth-largest economy globally. Moreover, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised its repo rate to 6.5% in February 2023 but later kept the numbers unchanged to strike a balance between inflation and growth rates.
In this article we shall see Indian Stock Market Recap of 2023, where we will see the key events and developments that happened last year.
Table of Contents
Key Events & Developments of the Indian Stock Markets CY23
Key Events – Adani-Hindenburg saga & more
The stocks under the Adani Group faced a major setback following allegations of fraud by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research. The shares went into free fall in January 2023 after the short seller’s report alleged improper use of tax havens and concerns over its debt levels.
However, Adani made the most of the crisis from the deep fall. To boost investor confidence, the company also onboarded investors such as GQG Partners & Abu Dhabi Conglomerate International Holding into some of its group companies.
Apart from the above, some of the major events that took place in CY23 include the merger between HDFC Limited and HDFC Bank, the financial demerger of Reliance Industries Limited and Jio Financial Services Limited (JFSL), etc.
Top-Performing Sectors in Nifty
In CY23, the top-performing sectors include defense, realty, PSEs, and auto providing 1-year returns of 88 percent, 80 percent, 77 percent, and 47 percent respectively.
Top-Performing Stocks – Large Cap
In the Large-cap segment, the top-performing stocks include Tata Motors – DVR Limited, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, and Zomato Limited delivering Multibagger returns of 151 percent, 123 percent, and 106 percent respectively in a year.
Top-Performing Stocks – Mid Cap
In the Mid-cap segment, the top-performing stocks include REC Limited, Power Finance Corporation Limited, and Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited delivering Multibagger returns of 252 percent, 229 percent, and 205 percent respectively in a year.
Top-Performing Stocks – Small Cap
In the Small-cap segment, the top-performing stocks include Lloyds Enterprises Limited, Inox Wind Limited, and Avantel Limited delivering Multibagger returns of 380 percent, 377 percent, and 360 percent respectively in a year.
Commodity Market Returns
Coming onto the commodity markets, the rate per 10 grams of 24k gold took an upward shift from Rs 55,350 in January 2023 to levels of Rs 64,299 during December 2023. In addition, Brent crude oil prices went down from $82 per barrel at the inception of CY23 to $77 per barrel.
FII Inflows
Domestic and Foreign Investors have actively demonstrated confidence in the long-term growth potential of India. During CY23, the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) invested around Rs 2.37 lakh crores ($24 billion) in financial instruments as a whole. Moreover, the Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) invested around Rs 1.69 lakh crores.
After being net sellers in the previous two financial years, FIIs regained confidence in FY24 reinforced by BJP’s stellar performance in the Assembly elections across three key states out of the four in the list.
Bumper IPOs
CY2023 has been the year of the IPOs with the total number crossing last year’s tally with 173 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 56 mainboard listings to date. In addition to the same, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) reduced the listing timeline for all IPOs to ‘T+2’ days, making the process one of the fastest across the globe.
In mainline IPOs, the best-performing numbers, considering the listing gains, were provided by Tata Technologies Limited and ideaForge Technology Limited listing at a premium of 162.85 percent and 92.78 percent respectively.
Similarly, in the SME IPOs, the best-performing numbers, considering the listing gains, were provided by Goyal Salt Limited and Sungarner Energies Limited listing at a premium of 258.2 percent and 216.1 percent respectively.
Written By Amit Madnani
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