Rewind 2018: Only 1 stock in the BSE 500 pack gave over 100% returns

The equity market had quite a rough ride in calendar year 2018, owing to rising interest rates, sharp increase in oil prices and consistent decline in the value of the rupee

Pharma company Merck turned out to be the biggest wealth creator for investors in the calendar year 2018 (CY18), as the stock price zoomed 137 per cent on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. Not only this, Merck is the only stock in the BSE 500 universe to have given over 100 per cent returns during the year gone by. 

NIIT Technologies (up 78 per cent), the second on the list, is followed by V-Mart Retail (76 per cent), Indiabulls Integrated Services (71 per cent) and L&T Technology Services (67 per cent), ACE Equity data show.

Company Name	Share price as on Dec 28, 2018 (in Rs)	Share price as on Dec 29, 2017 (in Rs)	% change
Merck Ltd.	3049.25	1288.65	136.62
NIIT Technologies Ltd.	1153.55	646.30	78.49
V-Mart Retail Ltd.	2617.25	1487.75	75.92
Indiabulls Integrated Services Ltd.	387.30	226.55	70.96
L&T Technology Services Ltd.	1700.60	1021.35	66.51
Vinati Organics Ltd.	1625.90	1000.05	62.58
HEG Ltd.	3691.20	2332.35	58.26
Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd.	1728.65	1116.55	54.82
Bata India Ltd.	1138.10	747.00	52.36
Bajaj Finance Ltd.	2631.65	1756.80	49.80

The equity market had quite a rough ride in the calendar year 2018, owing to rising interest rates, sharp increase in oil prices and a consistent decline in the value of the rupee. This apart, trade war tensions between two of the biggest economies in the world — the US and China — and a host of unfavourable developments back home, ranging from PNB scam to IL&FS crisis triggering a massive sell-off in the NBFC space, dented investor sentiment in a big way.

However, even so, the Indian market has performed better than most of its global peers, suggesting there is no need for a panic. The broader Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has given 3 per cent returns, compared with developed markets like the US, UK and Japan, which are down by 6.5 per cent, 12.9 per cent and 12.1 per cent, respectively, reports say. 

"We believe as the macro concerns have eased with lower crude oil prices, inflation, particularly consumer price-based inflation (CPI) at multi-month lows and stable rupee with softer bond yields, it warrants for an interest rate reversal in CY19 from current levels," says Vikas Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.

Among losers, PC Jeweller topped the list with its stock price crashing around 81 per cent during the year. The stock took a heavy beating in CY18, owing to myriad negative news one after another. 

Initially, there was speculation that the company's promoters might have held back information on a business relationship with e-governance service provider Vakrangee, a company which according to reports came under Sebi's scanner for alleged price and volume manipulations of its stock on the bourses. PC Jeweller in April had clarified that PC Gupta, one of its promoters, had gifted some of his shares to family members in an off-market transaction. But, that didn’t ease investors' çoncerns as the stock continued to fall.

Besides, the stock price took a further hit after the company cancelled its proposed buyback programme in July.
 

Manpasand Beverages (80 per cent), Jaiprakash Associates (71 per cent), Shankara Building Products (70 per cent) and Navkar Corporation (70 per cent) were the other stocks that burned investors' wealth in CY18.

Company Name	Share price as on Dec 28, 2018 (in Rs)	Share price as on Dec 29, 2017 (in Rs)	% change
PC Jeweller Ltd.	87.80	456.60	-80.77
Manpasand Beverages Ltd.	88.35	436.75	-79.77
Jaiprakash Associates Ltd.	7.63	26.00	-70.65
Shankara Building Products Ltd.	525.05	1778.05	-70.47
Navkar Corporation Ltd.	55.60	187.40	-70.33
Jindal Stainless Ltd.	33.00	104.35	-68.38
Jet Airways (India) Ltd.	276.10	831.30	-66.79
Infibeam Avenues Ltd.	47.85	141.35	-66.15
Vodafone Idea Ltd.	37.60	108.20	-65.25
Suzlon Energy Ltd.	5.42	15.54	-65.12

The first half of 2019 is expected to remain volatile, owing to the Lok Sabha elections. Nitin Singh, MD and head at Standard Chartered Wealth Management, says: "As we head into 2019, Indian markets are likely to remain volatile. We take a balanced approach to investing being selective in taking risk (diversified equity exposure) while keeping a greater margin of safety (preference for bonds) and keeping some dry power for tactical opportunities during the year (cash a core holding)."