Volatile ride for stocks, bullion sees big bets

MUMBAI: A year that started with volatility with the US President Donald Trump’s liberation day announcement that left global investors jittery, ended with even more volatility due to the war in West Asia, also started by the US President.

After a record rally in terms of investor wealth in the domestic market, they are back exactly where they started: BSE’s market capitalisation is at Rs 412 lakh crore on the last trading session of fiscal 2026, exactly where it was on March 31, 2025.

Among the leading stock indices, sensex, after hitting a new life-peak at 86,159 points on Dec 1 last year, closed FY26 at 71,948 points, down 5.4%. And on the NSE, Nifty recorded its life high mark at 26,373 points on Jan 5 and closed the year at 22,331 points, down 3.6%. During FY26, foreign funds took money off Indian stocks at a record pace with the year’s total net outflow at Rs 1.8 lakh crore, the biggest ever annual outflow, data from NSDL showed.

On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs), that also include mutual funds, poured record amounts into stocks that, to a large extent, acted as the cushion to strong foreign fund selling, market players said. At close of FY26, DIIs had net bought stocks worth Rs 8.3 lakh crore of which Rs 5.1 lakh crore came from the mutual funds.

The year also saw nearly Rs 2lakh crore raised through the IPO route, also a new record. The year also saw four IPOs each of which raised more than Rs 10,000-crore. Of these, the Rs 15,111-crore Tata Capital offer was the biggest one of the year.

During FY26, among the traditional asset classes, silver and gold were the biggest wealth creators. The price of the white metal in the domestic markets more than doubled to Rs 2.3 lakh/kg, while the yellow metal gained 47% to close near the Rs 1.5-lakh/10gm mark.
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