Mid-year market review: Midcap index dips 13%, smallcap down 16%

Additional surveillance mechanism for select stocks put in place by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and concerns regarding rejig in classification of mid-and small-caps have led to stocks from these two segments underperform their large-cap peers in the first half of calendar year 2018 (H1CY18).

The S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE small-cap indices have lost around 13 per cent and 16 per cent respectively in H1CY18, as compared to four per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex during this period, ACE Equity data shows.

Indiabulls Ventures, Firstsource Solutions, NIIT Technologies, V-Mart Retail and MindTree gained 61 per cent to 84 per cent and were the top performers among the BSE 500 pack. On the other hand, Vakrangee, Kwality, HCC, HDIL and Manpasand Beverages lost in the range of 65 per cent to 85 per cent in H1CY18, ACE Equity data shows.

For the remaining half of CY18, analysts expect the market to remain choppy on account of rising oil prices that could stoke inflationary pressures, possible hike in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), corporate earnings, rupee levels, political uncertainty surrounding the assembly elections scheduled for H2CY18 and the general elections scheduled for 2019.