Despite a rough ride through the week, benchmarks breached all-time high levels with Sensex racing past the 63,588 mark hit in December last year.
As many as 37 smallcap stocks delivered double-digit returns during the week with Antony Waste Handling Cell gaining the most at 32.54%, followed by Subros Ltd, whose shares have risen 32.1%.
Three stocks in the smallcap pack — Ddev Plastiks, DMCC Speciality Chemicals and HPL Electric — have offered returns over 25% in the said week, while 29 of them rose between 10 and 20%.
Among the midcap stocks, only two stocks — Shriram Finance and Piramal Enterprises — have delivered double digit returns. While Shriram Finance has gained 19% on multiple block deals in the stock, Piramal Enterprises surged nearly 13%.
Tech Mahindra and HDFC twins drove the performance of Sensex, rising 3.41% and 2.7%, respectively. Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, HCL Tech were also top gainers in the largecap space during the week.Sector-wise, almost all the indices ended in the red with metal and commodity stocks bleeding the most. Oil and gas, energy and realty segments lost 2% each.
In the metals space, Hindalco Industries fell over 4.3%, followed by Nalco and Tata Steel, whose shares were also down 4%.
During the week, volatility was more evident in mid- and small-cap stocks, which witnessed increased selling as investors booked profits following a strong recent rally.
What should investors do?
Analysts say despite many concerns emanating on the global front, the domestic market is not anticipated to undergo a significant correction.
“This is due to favourable domestic economic indicators and a correction in international commodity prices, which are expected to sustain earnings growth on a sequential basis,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial services.
“We expect the market to consolidate in the near term, although investors should use corrections as a buying opportunity,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Technically, there is weakness seen in the Nifty index and the wait for a new all-time high might get longer.
“We would still await further validations on the price to change the trend. In terms of levels, 18650 – 18600 shall act as a crucial support zone while 18880 – 18900 shall act as a crucial resistance zone,” said Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
(With data inputs from Ritesh Presswala)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)