Nifty Mid cap index underperforms Nifty50 in February; over a dozens stocks see 30% price erosion

The Indian stock markets traded with weakness in February and the trend has spilled over even as we ended the first week of March. The weakness in February has been on the back of weak global cues and geopolitical tensions involving Russia-Ukraine. 

The mid-cap segment has unperformed the large caps, as the Nifty Midcap 100 fell almost 7 per cent in February 2022 as against over 3 per cent decline in the Nifty50. 

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At least 18 out of 30 stocks have slumped up to 30 per cent from the mid-cap section, a domestic brokerage house Motilal Oswal states in its research report.  Manappuram Finance has plunged most in February by 28 per cent, followed by Ajanta Pharma down around 21 per cent. 

While at least 11 stocks such as Union Bank, Exide Industries, Castrol India, LIC Housing Finance, RBL Bank, Mahanagar Gas, L&T Finance, Deepak Nitrate among others have declined between 10-15 per cent in February, while Hind Zinc, SRF and Emami each dipped marginally by 1 per cent. 

On the contrary, National Aluminum Company Limited (NALCO) has gained most by over 11 per cent during the February month, the report states, followed by Laurus Labs up over 8 per cent, Voltas up more than 7 per cent, Varun Beverages up over 5 per cent and TVS Motor up 2 per cent.  

Market analyst and TradeSwift Director Sandeep Jain believes broader markets take the first hit whenever a fear grips into the market, and termed them as risk-averse.

While, in large caps, there are defensive sectors like IT, FMCG, Pharma which somehow aid the Nifty50 index.

Mid-cap become bearish way before Nifty. However, the present patterns of both indices are similar and there has been no major difference between these two categories, Jain further added. In bottom fishing, investors make entry to large cap and if they see any risk mid-cap is the first to suffer. 

The ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine has forced the commodity prices up leading a surge in crude oil and metals to surge.