Sensex clocks first yearly loss in 4 years; trips 5% in 2015

Clocking its worst performance in four years, stock market benchmark Sensex lost over 5 per cent or 1,382 points in 2015 as metals, banking and PSU stocks lost ground even as the last trading day today saw a modest gain of 158 points.
In choppy trade, the 30-share BSE index gained 157.51 points, or 0.61 per cent, during the day to close at 26,117.54 points. On December 31, 2014, the Sensex had closed at 27,499.42.
The broad-based NSE Nifty rose 50.10 points, or 0.63 per cent, in the day to end at 7,946.35 points. On yearly basis, Nifty dropped 336.35 points, or 4.06 per cent -- also its first annual drop since 2011.

It turned out to be a roller-coaster ride for the stock market in 2015 -- when foreign investors pushed the benchmark Sensex to a life-time high before puncturing the rally by pulling out billions of dollars from their 'favourite' market.
In comparison, the Sensex had gained nearly 30 per cent in 2014. The index had last registered an yearly loss in 2011 when it fell 24 per cent.
The Sensex is sharply down from its life-time peak of 30,024 points it had scaled in March this year.

The year also marked the worst single-day loss on August 24 when the Sensex took a sharp plunge of 1,624.51 points (5.94 per cent) following a steep devaluation of Chinese currency yuan in the beginning of August.

However, listing of new companies in the stock market helped the total investor wealth, measured in terms of market capitalisation of all listed shares, retain its level close Rs 100 lakh crore.
In absolute terms, the total market valuation of all listed firms at the BSE rose by Rs 2,02,493 crore to Rs 1,00,37,734 crore in 2015. This marked the fifth consecutive year of an increase in the investor wealth.
"2015 has been extremely eventful for the stock market. The markets hit an all-time high with the Sensex and the Nifty surpassing the 30,000 and 9,000 levels despite several odds such as deficient monsoon, shaky global markets and subdued corporate earnings," said Kamlesh Rao, CEO, Kotak Securities.

Ending the IPO drought, 21 companies have entered Dalal Street in 2015 with initial public offers to garner Rs 13,600 crore -- the highest in five years.