Year-end special | Stock market in 2022: The good, bad & ugly explained in 5 charts

NEW DELHI: Despite the Sensex rallying nearly 25% from its 52-week-low in a span of just 6 months, the year 2022 proved to be a rough one for stock investors as Dalal Street's Covid batch of new investors learnt an old lesson the hard way - making money is not easy.

FOMO (fear of missing out) was common among many new investors as they lost track of winners while trying to time the market amid the ups and downs led by fears related to Fed rate hikes, Russia-Ukraine war, inflation and recessionary projections.

Before we step into the new year 2023, where investors are expecting double-digit gains on the back of robust economic outlook and strong domestic flows, let's do a quick recap of the best and worst part of 2022 for Indian equity investors with the help of 5 charts:

1) Bank FD better than Sensex?


Sensex is poised to end a volatile 2022 in the green zone with an upside of mid-single digit but below the return given by a bank fixed deposit (FD).

When the Sensex hit 52-week low of 50,921 in the peak of the last summer, investor portfolios were naturally bleeding but when the index zoomed over 12,600 points to hit all-time record high of 63,583 this winter, the smile was once again missing from the Street as the mood was not so jubilant in the broader market.

2) Best & worst days


In the action-packed 2022, Sensex saw 1,000 plus rallies 14 times with the largest single-day gain of 1,736 points on Feb 15. On the other hand, there have been another 14 instances where the index has crashed at least 1,000 points in a day.

24th February was the worst day for Sensex when it crashed 2,702 points after Russia invaded Ukraine.

3) Sectoral Winners & Losers


The two big winners of the Covid era - IT and pharma - were in for trouble in 2022 amid sectoral churning of investor portfolios. Old economy stocks from power, utilities, capital goods and energy became the new darlings of Dalal Street.

4) Top gainers & losers of 2022


PSUs and Adani Group stocks led the list of heroes of 2022. On the other hand, new-age stocks like Paytm were among the top wealth eroders.

5) FIIs vs DIIs


As the US Fed began rate hikes, FIIs sold Indian stocks worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore in 2022. Had it not been for the resilient domestic inflow, Dalal Street too might have been in the red just like Wall Street in 2022.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)