After days of a sustained uptrend, stock markets in India turned lower in the intraday trade on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. The broader market indices nursed deeper wounds as the BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap indices fell up to 2 per cent during the day.
At 11:55 AM, the BSE SmallCap index was trading 1.76 per cent lower at 47,008.28, slightly higher than the day's low level of 46,963.5. The BSE MidCap index, on the other hand, was down 1.33 per cent at 41,819.96, recovering marginally from the day's low of 41,743.34.
By comparison, the benchmark BSE Sensex index was up 80 points (0.1 per cent) at the time of writing this report.
Among individual stocks, shares of Kirloskar Pneumatic Company, Sarda Energy & Minerals, SML Isuzu, Dish TV, Pokarna, Sarda Energy & Minerals, Carraro India, Greenlam Industries, DAM Capital, and Themis Medicare declined in the range of 5 per cent to 9.5 per cent in the smallcap category.
ALSO READ | Stock Market LIVE Updates: Sensex flat at 78,000; Nifty at 23,700; Metal, PSB, Pharma, Oil drag 1%
Within the midcap segment, shares of Godrej Industries, Uco Bank, Central Bank of India, Dixon Technologies, GIC RE, Emcure, Kalyan Jewellers, and Policybazaar were top losers, down up to 5 per cent.
Also Read
The halt in the broader market rally comes amid profit booking after a five-day bull run. Since March 18, the BSE MidCap index has advanced by 7.6 per cent (3,019 points) on the exchange, while the BSE SmallCap index has jumped 9.16 per cent (4,017 points).
According to analysts, this swift rally in the market called for profit booking at higher levels as the markets had entered an "overbought" zone. Besides, the monthly expiry of Sensex F&O contracts likely added to the overall volatility in the market today.
"We believe that the short-term market formation is still on the positive side, but due to temporary overbought conditions, we might see some profit booking at higher levels," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities.
ALSO READ | Financial stocks trade mixed as RBI revises PSL norms; Nifty Bank tops 52K
Further, as per VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, even though the market momentum favours the bulls, there is no fundamental support to take the market much higher from the present levels.
"The 5.6 per cent rally in the Nifty from recent lows has been driven by a combination of factors like FIIs turning buyers (Rs 13,765 crore in the last three days), the consequent short-covering and improving macros of the Indian economy. The surge in mid and smallcaps has brought the retail investors aggressively back into the market. However, investors should stay cautious in the near-term, particularly when US President Trump's Damocles sword of reciprocal tariff is hanging over the head of markets," he said.
From a long-term perspective, however, analysts at Standard Chartered see an improved risk-reward for domestic equities over a 12-month horizon, supported by reasonable valuations, the likelihood of growth and earnings cycle improving, and easing financial
conditions.
ALSO READ | UBS upgrades UltraTech, Ambuja, Dalmia to 'buy' on earnings upcycle in FY26
"We see a tactical opportunity in smallcap equities given a lower risk of earnings downgrades, access to a broader set of industries and sub-sectors to play India's structural story, and historically, a period of easing liquidity and improving economic growth, has been positive for smallcap equities outperformance," they said in a recent report.