Friday the 13th is associated with superstition and fear in popular culture. But this does not hold true for the Indian stock market. A closer look at the performance of major sectoral indices may explain this. National Stock Exchange (NSE) data shows that Indian sectors have actually performed better than their average daily returns on these days.
Nifty 50 performed better than normal days
Nifty 50 has given an average return of 0.39% on Friday, 13th. This is much higher than its overall daily average of 0.07%. Nifty Bank, the benchmark for banking stocks, has outperformed with an average return of 0.46%. Its typical daily gain was 0.08%.
Almost every sector has performed better than average on Friday, the 13th of the month. The only exception is Nifty IT, which has slightly underperformed.
Sectors like auto and financial services have also performed well. They have gained 0.52% and 0.49% respectively. Their historical average has been 0.07% and 0.08%. Sectors that were considered volatile due to global factors have also outperformed on such days.
How was the performance of which sector?
Nifty Oil & Gas gave a return of 0.45% on these dates. Its daily average return was 0.06%. While Nifty Metal gave a return of 0.42%. On an average day, it delivered a return of 0.04%. Nifty Pharma gained 0.33% on these days as against 0.05%.
Nifty FMCG, which is known for its low volatility, saw a slight increase of 0.19%. It usually gains 0.07%. Nifty Realty and Nifty IT also looked positive. But their gains were slightly less than their usual performance.
(Story: Chinmay Vasdev)
