Mid, smallcaps outperform larger peers

Thu, 11 Sep Closing

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

After starting the day on a firm note, Indian stocks lost steam during the morning session and stayed below the dotted line for most part of the balance day. The BSE-Sensex ended the day lower by about 60 points or 0.23%, while the NSE-Nifty ended lower by about 0.1% or 8 points. Stocks from the pharmaceuticals and metal spaces were amongst the top underperformers today, while those from the auto and power sectors were amongst the top performers. Mid and smallcap stocks seemed to be in favour today as the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices ended the day higher by about 1.1% and 1.4% respectively.

Stock markets in other parts of Asia ended the day on a weak note today with Hong Kong and China closing lower by about 0.2% and 0.3% respectively. Japan however, ended higher by about 0.8%. European stocks were trading mixed at the time of writing. The rupee was trading at Rs 60.92 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Auto stocks ended the day on a firm note today. As per a leading business daily, the management of auto major Mahindra & Mahindra has announced that it will launch two compact utility vehicles and one commercial vehicle next year. The company is counting heavily on these new launches to achieve higher volume growth than what it has seen in the past 12 to 18 months. The company is of the opinion that its sales got impacted out of contraction in the gap between market prices of diesel and petrol as well as shift in consumer preference towards compact utility vehicles, an area where it does not have strong presence. As such, it plans to launch compact UVs with petrol engines next year in an aim to reclaim its lost ground and compete with the likes of Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster. The stock of M&M ended the day lower by about 1% today.

Private sector bank stocks have mainly closed the day in the green with City Union Bank and Federal Bank leading the gains. However, J&K Bank and IndusInd Bank ended in the red. As per a leading financial daily, India's leading private sector lender by assets ICICI Bank is said to be planning to raise at least US$ 500 million by selling bonds maturing in five and a half years to investors in Asia and Europe. It is said that the bonds will be sold through ICICI Bank's Dubai branch. It will be a regulation S transaction. This means that the US investors will not be able to participate in the bond issue. It is expected that the bonds will be linked to the five-year US Treasury bond and the initial price target for the bond is likely to be 200 basis points above it. It is worth noting that the yield on five-year US Treasury bond closed at 1.76% yesterday.