In a tight spot: Sustained stock market correction will test investors

The NSE500 is up just 2.9 per cent and the midcaps have returned a meagre 2.5 per cent return in the same period, while the smallcaps are down 3.3 per cent

India’s stock markets are experiencing increasingly bearish trends. While the benchmark Nifty fell 2.7 per cent last week, the broad NSE500, which tracks 500 largest stocks listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), dropped 4.7 per cent. The midcap and smallcap indices dropped 7.4 per cent and 9.6 per cent, respectively. The downtrend has been in force for a while. This broadly bearish sentiment is illustrated by the fact that only 47 stocks in the NSE500 advanced in the past week, while 452 stocks lost ground. From a longer perspective, the Nifty has returned a nominally positive 4.6 per cent