The Year on the Stock Market: Price, Dividends and the Baseline

A year's result is not a single number but a breakdown: how much came from price revaluation, how much dividends added, how much tax took away, and which starting point you are measuring from in the first place. Until these four layers are separated, an annual result can be neither checked nor reproduced. What follows is the mechanism for putting the year's figures together; the values themselves are filled in by the platform from its database at the moment you read the page: Russian market stocks, payout calendar, issuer financial reports.

An honest caveat up front: as of the date of this article, calendar year 2026 has not closed. The platform's database holds daily summaries, for example the trading results for 19 October 2026 and the trading results for 15 September 2026. The annual result is an aggregate of such days, and it is assembled under the same rules described below.

Why the annual result cannot be reduced to one number

The phrase "the market over the year" almost always means the move in a broad index based on closing prices. That is a narrow yardstick. An index is a weighted construction: the contribution of the largest stocks to the total is out of all proportion to that of the small ones, and an index's annual result can be almost entirely the story of a few heavyweight issuers. A portfolio built differently shows something else over the same year, not because the investor made a mistake, but because they are measuring a different basket.

The second discrepancy is composition. An index is reviewed: stocks enter and leave it. The index's annual line is continuous, but the list inside it is not. That is why "the index over the year" and "my portfolio, bought at the start of the year and left untouched" are two different questions.

Price and total return

A price index captures only revaluation. A total return index adds dividends as if they were reinvested in the shares. On a dividend-heavy market, the gap between these two versions over a year is substantial, and it is precisely this gap that explains why two correct reports on one and the same year do not agree.

For one stock it looks like this: SBER is the card showing the current revaluation, and 3,95 is the multiple that reveals whether, over the year, the market's valuation changed or the earnings themselves grew. A year-long price rise with a flat multiple and a year-long rise driven purely by rerating are different stories with different staying power.

Where the year closes and where it is only announced

A dividend runs on its own calendar: announcement, record date, payment. Time passes between these steps, and a payout approved in one year reaches the account in another. That is why "dividends for the year" means either those declared or those actually credited, and the two amounts do not match. The upcoming events are shown here:

Tax: the result before and after withholding

A brokerage statement shows the financial result, not what you are left with. The tax base for securities transactions is defined by law: 13%. There are two consequences for annual results: losses on closed positions are offset against gains within the year, while paper gains on unsold securities do not enter the base. This means the "market" annual result and the "after-tax" annual result diverge more the more actively you traded.

The baseline

The choice of starting point changes the conclusion more than any stock selection.

1. The calendar year is convenient for comparison with other people's reports.
2. A rolling year from today's date answers more honestly the question "how am I doing now".
3. The date of your own entry is the only baseline that answers the question about your money, and it is different for everyone.
4. Step 4: add a benchmark, namely the yield on the risk-free alternative in OFZ and an overall snapshot of the debt market. An annual gain on equities that falls short of the coupon is not a success.

Inflation deserves a separate mention: the nominal and the real annual result are different quantities, and over a long horizon it is the latter that matters.

What annual results do not show

An annual summary hides the path. One and the same final figure can be the result of a steady drift or of a deep drawdown followed by a rebound, and these are a different experience and a different risk. Liquidity is hidden too: a thinly traded stock can post an attractive annual revaluation that is hard to turn into cash. Also hidden are the regulator's decisions, such as open market operations, and the actions of the issuers themselves: an open-market buyback changes both the price and the number of shares outstanding, and therefore the per-share figure by which you measure the year.

It is best to check the results against primary sources: the corporate events calendar, market news and the glossary of terms. For comparison with collective investment vehicles, see funds.