Sensex ends FY17 with 16% gain; m-cap rises by `26 lakh cr

DALAL STREET bid adieu to the financial year 2016-17 offering good returns to the investment community. While the benchmark Sensex on Friday declined by 27 points on Friday to end at 29,620.50 on the last trading day of 2016-17, the benchmark index gained 4,279 points, or 16.88 per cent, for the entire fiscal 2016-17.

The broader Nifty ended the fiscal on Friday with gains of 1,435.55 points, or 18.55 per cent, after scaling the year’s high of 9,218.40 (intra-session) on March 17. The index had lost about 9 per cent in the previous fiscal, but had ended 2014-15 with gains of 26.65 per cent.

The Sensex had touched the year’s high of 29,824.62 (intraday) on March 17 this year.

The fiscal 2016-17 has turned out to be a good year as the total market capitalisation of all listed stocks on the BSE rose to a record high of Rs 121 lakh crore as against Rs 94.75 lakh crore at the end of fiscal 2015-16.

Foreign investors invested heavily in the equity market during the fiscal. The FPI inflow gathered momentum after the victory of the BJP in the UP elections. Total FPI investment in equity and debt for the full fiscal was Rs 48,411 crore as against an outflow of Rs 18,176 crore in the previous fiscal. FPIS invested Rs 55,703 crore in the equity market but pulled out Rs 7,292 crore from the debt market.

On Friday, the BSE Sensex snapped its three-session winning streak to end lower by 26.92 points, or 0.09 per cent at 29,620.50. It hovered between 29,687.64 and 29,552.61 during the day. The index had rallied 410.27 points in the past three sessions.

“Stocks ended on a soft note due to financial year end liquidations and caution ahead of the Reserve Bank of India meet as well as US data releases next week. Firm rupee and monsoon forecast have also emerged as dominant themes ahead of widely expected Q4 numbers. Both Nifty as well as bank nifty had seen rollovers below three month average,” said Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Financial Services. RIL was the day’s best performer in the Sensex pack, rallying 3.93 per cent to Rs 1,319.20, its highest in nine years, with the company’s telecom unit Jio set to charge for its services from April 1.

Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened by 7 paise to end at a fresh 17-month high of 64.85 on dollar selling from banks and exporters.