Market Overview

Call it the August season for the equity markets.

The equity markets staged a smart recovery in August. The 30-share Sensex surged by a whopping 11.10 per cent and Nifty by 11.36 per cent. This is something noteworthy considering the fact that for the one-month period ended July 25, the returns from Sensex were negligible at 0.14 per cent and Nifty had generated negative return (-0.07 per cent). The recovery of Sensex during the period also trebled the YTD (year-to-date) returns. From the YTD of 7.32 per cent in the previous month (July), it surged to 23.14 per cent. The situation is even more pleasant for Nifty. Its YTD multiplied to more than five times. YTD returns stood at 19.37 per cent for the period. Among the Sensex stocks, Bhel was the maximum gainer, rising over 23 per cent and Reliance Energy was the top loser during the period. The latter shed some 0.34 per cent to close the month at Rs 446. Among the broader indices, the CNX Midcap rose 16.5 per cent and S&P CNX 500 was up 13.46 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, except for BSE FMCG index (6.64 per cent), all others surged more than 10 per cent. The BSE CD index was the highest gainer rising over 18 per cent for the period under review. This was followed by BSE Capital Goods (16.98 per cent), BSE Auto (16.08 per cent) and BSE Healthcare Index (13.21 per cent).