Sensex, Nifty End 2022 With Gain Of Over 4%; Adani Enterprises, ITC, Coal India Top Gainers

The Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for seventh year in a row in 2022. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 4.44 per cent and Nifty 50 index advanced 4.32 per cent despite a lot of challenges globally and selling pressure by foreign institutional investors. 

The year started on a negative note for Indian equities as Russian invasion of Ukraine constrained supply chains of various raw materials which sparked inflation globally. Spike in inflation forced central bankers across the world to hike interest rates therefore turning the low interest rate cycle.

"Global economy is in state of confusion as inflation is at decadal high which has burnt deep holes in the pockets of common masses in US and Europe. These economies were used to very low interest rates in fact Europe had near zero interest rates for the longest time and that is hurting a lot of people and impacting markets globally," says Vijay Chopra of Enoch Ventures.

Foreign institutional investors sold record shares in Indian market that also added to pain for markets. According to data compiled by the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 1,21,439 crore as spike in bond markets internationally led to money moving out of emerging market like India to safety of developed market government bonds which are offering risk-free high rate of interest.

"Indian market was supported by domestic and retail investors hence we did not see a crash in the markets like there was in US. The major sector which saw selloff was IT and that was because of its global linkage to US and Europe," adds Chopra.

In the Nifty 50 index, most of the shares, gave positive returns to investors as 33 shares ended higher while 17 stocks closed lower in 2022.

Adani Enterprises was top Nifty gainer this year. The stock surged 123 per cent. ITC, Coal India, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, NTPC, State Bank of India, Eicher Motors, ICICI Bank, Britannia Industries and Bharti Airtel also rose between 20-54 per cent.

On the other hand, Wipro was top Nifty loser, the stock dropped 45 per cent. Tech Mahindra, Divi's Labs, HCL Technologies, Tata Motors, Infosys and Bharat Petroleum also fell 15-43 per cent.

State-run lenders outperformed larger peers in 2022 as the gauge of PSU Bank on the NSE surged a whopping 71 per cent. UCO bank was top gainer among the shares in the PSU Bank index. The stock surged 137 per cent in 2022. Bank of Baroda, Punjab & Sind Bank, Indian Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Indian Overseas Bank also rewarded investors in range of 54-126 per cent.