Mid-cap stocks gain currency

The mid-cap stocks are back in the reckoning on the bourses with a monthly gain of over 20.6 per cent. The BSE Mid-cap Index has outperformed the market in the past one month by gaining 19.8 per cent compared to the Sensex gaining 13.8 per cent.

Of late, investors have been taking positions in the mid-cap stocks as most of them are trading below a price multiple of 10. Trading volume on BSE and NSE was up by an average of 33 per cent compared to just 4 per cent rise reported by the Sensex during last week.

The gains have been very strong for infrastructure, media and metal stocks. Of the 273 stocks traded under the BSE Mid-cap Index, only 17 have recorded a decline in the last one month while the remaining 256 stocks have gained 24 per cent.

Among the 256 monthly gainers, Gammon Infrastructure and Anant Raj have posted a gain of 100 per cent while Madhucon Projects, IRB Infrastructure and GMDC have gained over 90 per cent in one month. Puravankara Project, Matrix, Bajaj Hindusthan, HCC, NDTV and Entertainment Network also gained 75-85 per cent.

Among the weekly gainers, India Infoline was the biggest gainer jumping 58 per cent from Rs 43.05 to Rs 67.95. Among other weekly gainers, Core Projects, ABG Shipyard, GMDC and IBN18 Broadcast gained 25-40 per cent.

Among the monthly losers, Maytas Infra declined by 66.8 per cent on selling pressure from investors after its promoter Satyam Computer reversed its decision to buy out the company. The monthly trading volume of Maytas rose 2,800 per cent from 620,000 shares to 18.1 million shares.