Mid-cap, small-cap indices far away from new highs

At 0950 hours ,the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices trading at 6,034 and 5,892 respectively are trading over 40% below their historic highs.

Even as the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are heading towards new all-time highs, the mid-cap and small-cap indices are still far away from their lifetime highs they had scaled on January 8, 2008.

Today, the Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) 30-share index S&P BSE Sensex crossed 21,000 mark and currently trading at 20,988 points is less than 250 points away from its historic intra-day high of 21,207 touched on January 10, 2008.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) 50-share CNX Nifty quoting nearly 125 points away from its record high of 6,357 touched on January 8, 2008. The index was trading at 6,245 at 0945 hours.

However, the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices trading at 6,034 and 5,892 respectively are trading over 40% below their historic highs. The mid-cap index had touched a lifetime peak of 10,245.81 and the small cap touched an all-time high of 14,239.24 in January, 2008.

Data suggests that the BSE small-cap and BSE mid-cap indices have underperformed the Sensex in the recent past. So far in the current calendar year 2013, the Sensex has gained 8%, while the BSE Small-cap index has lost 20%. The BSE Mid-cap index, in the same period, is down by 15%.

The mid-cap and small-cap indices track the performance of companies with relatively smaller market capitalisation. There are total 654 stocks in the BSE mid-cap and small-cap index, which accounts nearly 18% of total BSE market capitalisation. 

Among the sector classification five BSE sectoral indices – IT, Bankex, healthcare, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and auto have touched new all-time highs in the recent past.

Outside of these five sectors, the remaining six sectors have a lot more work to do before getting back to new records. Power, capital goods, metal, realty and oil and gas all hit their record highs in 2007 and 2008, and all five sectors need to rally between 60% and 900% before they see new highs. Consumer durable index trading at 5,973, a 27% lower from its record high of 8,221 touched on December last year.

The realty sector hit its all-time high in 2008 at a level of 13,848.09. With the sector currently trading at a price of 1,391, it needs to rally 896% before reaching its record high.

Meanwhile, out of 527 actively traded stocks as many as 217 stocks available at half of their market price as on January 8, 2008.

Aban Offshore, Suzlon Energy, Educomp Solutions, Unitech, Jai Corp, HDIL, IVRCL, Punj Lloyd, HCL Infosystems, BEML and Lanco Infratech are down sharply between 90-98% from their January 2008 levels.

However, around 192 stocks that recorded gain over the period, the market price of 93 stocks more-than-double during the period.

TTK Prestige, Eicher Motors, Page Industries, Hawkins Cookers, Kajaria Ceramics, Cera Sanitaryware, Ajanta Pharma, Relaxo Footwear and Symphony have seen price appreciation over six-fold.