The calendar year 2015 has come to an end and has not been a good one for the markets. The benchmark indices BSESENSEX and NIFTY have both been negative for the year. While the BSESENSEX lost 5.03%, NIFTY lost 4.06%. The performance of the constituents of the two indices was also a mixed bag.

From the above table one can see that of the 18 indices from the BSE, seven were positive while 11 were negative. Of the 11 which were negative 5 outperformed the SENSEX while 6 underperformed. The best performing of the indices was BSECONSUMER DURABLE which rose 24.02% followed by BSEHEALTHCARE 15.06%. On the reverse side the worst performers were BSEMETAL down 31.2% followed by BSEPSU 17.18%.

What is significant is that there were huge inflows from investors into mutual fund schemes which invested in midcap and smallcap stocks. They not only outperformed the benchmark which were negative, but registered net gains. The BSEMIDCAP gained 7.43% while BSESMALLCAP gained 6.76%.

In individual stocks forming part of the BSESENSEX, 13 stocks ended with gains for the year while 17 stocks were negative. Of the negative stocks, 4 performed better than the SENSEX. The top performing stocks were Maruti Suzuki up 38.66% followed by Lupin 28.71%. On the worst performers were PSU capital goods manufacturer down 36.18% followed by Tata Steel 35.01%.

The year has been a tough one and the current year is likely to be as tough if not worse.