During the week, 191 smallcap stocks delivered double-digit returns, of which 13 gained 25% or more. PTC Industries led the smallcap pack with a gain of 35%, followed by Avantel at 33% and Honda India Power at 30.47%.
Around 21 stocks including Jubilant Industries, Reliance Infrastructure, Agarwal Industrial Corp, DCX Systems, Bajaj Hindustan, Dredging Corp have given returns between 20-25% during the week.
In the midcap segment, nine stocks including Schaeffler India, Oil India, Oracle Financial have gained in double digits. Schaeffler gained 16%, while Oil India and Oracle gained more than 13%.
Among Sensex stocks, UltraTech Cement topped the list with a return of 7.4%, followed by Larsen & Toubro at 4.3% and Power Grid at 3.9%.
The Fed meeting outcome during the week was hawkish as market expectations rose from two rate cuts in calendar year 24 to just one. However, stability in US inflation provided some relief.
What should investors do?
Next week will be a short one as investors are enjoying a long weekend due to Bakrid on Monday. The market is now waiting for new triggers, possibly a favourable budget which is likely to be announced next month.
On the macro front, domestic CPI data indicate a gradual decline in inflation. Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, “While the last mile towards the inflation target is still tough, given the expectation of a normal monsoon, investors are hopeful that the MPC will be one step closer to the easing cycle.”
Investors will be watching some key interest rate decisions by the Bank of Japan and the ECB, as well as US gross domestic product (GDP) data, which is likely to have an impact on the direction of global interest rate cuts.
Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal, said, “We expect the markets to continue their upward trend next week driven by positive macro trends, expectations of sustained government spending and policy continuity, a healthy monsoon, and strong earnings.”
Technically, Nifty continued to trade in a range bound area within 23300-23500 levels and there are still no early signs of any breakout on either side.
Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities said a decisive move above 23500 level is likely to lead to an upside breakout and a drop below 23300 level could mean chances of a downside breakout of the range movement in the near future.
With data inputs from Ritesh Presswala
(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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