Further, a subdued start to the result season by the IT sector combined with an uptick in crude oil prices affected the broad market trend. However, the benchmark indices logged gains during the week, taking comfort in easing domestic inflation.
During the week, around 58 smallcap stocks offered double-digit weekly returns, with five of them offering over 25% returns.
ITI Ltd was the top gainer in the smallcap pack with a 41% return, followed by Prakash Industries (29.7%), MMTC (26%), and Omaxe (25.9%).
About seven stocks, including Shiva Cement, Lloyds Enterprise, Gujarat Mineral, SpiceJet, Jai Corp and PDS Ltd among others delivered returns between 20-25% during the week.
In the midcap segment, only one stock Nippon Life India AMC rose 18%.
Among the Sensex pack, Tata Motors topped the charts with 7% returns, followed by Maruti at 4.13% and Airtel at 3.05%.Sectorally, realty was the top gainer, fuelled by significant project launches and an uptick in pre-sales with the onset of the festive season.
What should investors do?
In the near term, analysts expect markets to remain range-bound with a positive bias. With the start of the corporate earnings, the stock-specific action will likely continue into the next week as well.
“Looking ahead, investors will closely monitor the further commencement of the Q2 earnings season which has high expectations like sectors auto, finance and oil and gas,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Technically, the short-term trend of Nifty continues to be positive.
“A decisive move above the hurdle of 19800-19850 levels is likely to bring another round of sharp upside momentum for the near term. Immediate support is placed at 19630,” said Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Top Trending Stocks: Sensex Today Live, SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price
