November brings cheers to investors since 10 years

The stock market benchmark Sensex recorded its first fall in the month of November in the past nine years, but investors are not complaining as the month has added over half a trillion rupee to their wealth.

Turbulent times on the bourses wiped off 475 points from the 30-share barometer index during the month - making it the first November loss since 1999.

But, the month kept its reputation as a wealth creator for the tenth year in a row, with a gain of Rs 53,000 crore (Rs 530 billion) in the invested wealth on the Indian stock market, measured in terms of cumulative market capitalisation of all the listed companies.

This is the first time that the investors' wealth has grown during a month, despite a significant fall in the benchmark Sensex. According to marketmen, this phenomenon is due to the debut of some large-value companies after their initial public offers during the month such as Mundra Port and SEZ that has a market cap of close to Rs 37,000 crore.

Despite a gain of 360 points in the benchmark Sensex on Friday- the last trading day of November - the month saw a total fall of 475 points in the index.

The investors' wealth rose by Rs 1.33 trillion today, on the back of a 1.9 per cent rise in the Sensex. However, the weakness witnessed on the bourses for most part of the month limited the total gain to just about one-fourth of the rise posted during the month of November in the past three years.

November has added over Rs 2 trillion to the investors' kitty on past three occasions -- in 2006, 2005 and 2004. Prior to that, their wealth swelled by Rs 35,000-65,000 crore (Rs 350-650 billion) each November between 1999-2003.

The Sensex had also gained between 500-900 points during the past three November months.

While November has been bringing cheers to the Indian bourses consistently since 1999, but the month was a loss-making period for five straight years between 1994-1998.

In percentage terms, the Sensex recorded its best November gain of 21 per cent in 1993, while the worst performance of 12.5 per cent fall was in 1995. In terms of absolute value change, the Sensex recorded its best November gain of 896 points in 2005.

In terms of total market cap gain also, November 2005 remains the best so far with an increase of Rs 2.60 trillion.

Since 1999, all November months have together added about Rs 9.5 trillion. During this nine-year period, the investors' wealth has jumped over nine-fold to Rs 63 trillion.

The market has recorded gains in the month of November on ten occasions since 1991, while there have been seven incidents of losses for this month.