The year 2016 was an action packed year for the global markets. It began with negative news flows from China. The world's second largest economy showed signs of weakening. The global markets saw a sharp plunge in apprehension of a China slowdown.

Over the rest of the year, major indices saw some volatility The China stock markets continued their slide downwards. Consequently, Shanghai index ended the year down 14.5%. The leading loser globally. It was a lukewarm year for Asian indices, while major western markets remained resilient to the surrounding global turmoil.

The rest part of the year witnessed some key developments. Brexit, volatile commodity price, Donald Trump's shocking victory and so on. In the upcoming year, the whole world will be looking forward to the policies and actions of, Donald Trump.

On the commodity front, the crude prices witnessed a sharp rally, after touching lowest levels of around US$ 26 (Brent oil per barrel). While gold prices surged by 8.5% in last one year. Marking its first annual gain in four years.

World Markets During the Year 2016

Speaking about development on the domestic front. We saw exit of Raghuram Rajan from RBI; Indo pak surgical strikes, clearance of GST bill and so on. And finally came the demonetization. Modi's fight against black money.

Speaking about black money, Vivek Kaul has been quite vocal on this issue. He has raised concerns over this matter. Vivek will send his petition to the President of India on 6th January 2017. Sign the petition today and spread the word so that we get equal rights.

While the economy has been going through the after effects of demonetization, one will witness aftermath impacts during the 2017 too.

With all these developments, let see how the sectors performed during the year.

BSE Indices During the Year

It was a bad year for defensives. The Pharma index witnessed maximum downfall during the year. Regulatory challenges have wiped away billion dollars of market cap of the big pharma companies.

On the other hand, the metal stocks and oil & gas stocks were the leading gainers in the pack. Backed by improving commodity prices, both these sectors received investors favour.

Moving on to some key developments on the corporate front, things have been quite interesting here. Mistry's exit from Tata group companies and the following mudslinging between Mistry and the Tata group was a surreal thing for market participants. The year also saw a sharp surge in the IPO activity. The first insurance company, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance company listed this year.

Here are the top gainers and losers of the year.

Movers and shakers during the Year

Source : Equitymaster

The Equitymaster team has covered all above discussed events. And also shared their views, explaining readers about the impact on these developments in our 5 Minute Wrap up.

Here is the list of our top 5 Wrap ups of the year.

1. Here's why Sensex can rise 70% over next 2-3 years
2. 2008 Was the Best Time to Know Small Caps... And So Is Now
3. Gold Can Turn a Maruti 800 into a BMW. What Can Stocks Do?
4. The Demon In Demonetisation For Savers
5. Equitymaster's Pledge Since April 22, 1996

Going ahead, domestic equity markets may get impacted due to poor corporate earnings on the back of demonetization. As, the status of the reforms agenda of the government continues one may expect more volatility in the markets too. Quite obviously global factors will continue to impact the markets. Investors should utilize the opportunity in cherry-picking fundamentally strong stocks with robust growth potential.

In a few hours, we will bid adieu to the year 2016 and usher in a brand new year, full of endless possibilities. We wish all our readers a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

And here's an update from our friends at Daily Profit Hunter...

The index continued with its downtrend and even slipped below 7,900 on Monday. However, it witnessed a dramatic turnaround on Tuesday. It ended the session with gains of more than 100 points. Bulls marched even higher after a pause on Wednesday. Finally, it ended the week with gains of almost 200 points at 8,185. Despite the gains in last four sessions, the premium for Nifty futures is only one point, which is quite unusual. It seems like the rally could only have been on the back of short covering and/or year-end NAV propping. Anyways, we would like to watch how the index behaves near the recent high of 8,275. This level could act as a resistance in the coming week. 

Nifty Logs around 2.5% Gains During the Week