11 small-cap stocks rise more than 10% during the week despite weak market sentiment

Indian equities registered losses for the third consecutive week, but there were several outliers in the mid-cap and small-cap space which indicates that the bulls are still holding the rope tight.

About 11 stocks in the small-cap space have registered 10% and more gains in the week ended Friday, and prominent names among these are Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences and Bajaj Electricals.

Bajaj Electricals rose on the back of winning a Rs 332 crore order from Power Grid Corp of India. The stock ended the week with more than 12% gains.

Similarly, there were stocks outperforming the benchmarks in the mid-cap space.

One such stock was India Cements that was driven by news reports that UltraTech Cement is leading in the race to acquire the former’s plant in Madhya Pradesh, valued at Rs 800 crores. Other lead players in the race are JSW Cement and Adani Group. The stock has gained 6% last week.

Information technology stocks across the board have rebounded after the losses in the recent sessions. Stocks such as Infosys, HCL Technologies, Mphasis, and L&T Technology Services have risen 3-5% last week.

Eventhough concerns globally about a macroeconomic slowdown due to steeper interest rate hikes prevailed, the Indian market fared far better than most emerging and even developed markets.

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 fell a little over 1% week-on-week, while headline indices in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and the US declined 3-6%.

This better performance by Indian equities has been backed by encouraging domestic indicators which got strengthened by the Reserve Bank of India’s stance to stay focussed on nurturing growth eventhough risks to inflation persists.

While the losses in Sensex were limited, the rate-sensitive stocks witnessed selling pressure.

The S&P BSE Bankex index fell 2.4% for the week as caution ahead of RBI’s monetary policy decision saw foreign investors booking profits in heavyweight stocks. State Bank of India and Axis Bank were the major laggards on the Sensex, with over 3% and 5% losses, respectively.

The power pack was hit the most, weighed down with the S&P BSE Power and Utilities indices shedding nearly 5% each. Shares of JSW Energy, Torrent Power, and NHPC fell 6-7%.