Euphoria ebbing? Number of smallcap stock gainers plunge 27% week-on-week

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 clocked losses for the fourth straight week, the broader market also lost some of its momentum as was visible in the stock performance. In the week gone by, 55 smallcap stocks gave double-digit positive weekly returns, as compared to 75 stocks a week ago. In the BSE 500 index, 24 stocks had given double-digit returns in the week ended August 11, but this number was sharply down to six in the week ended August 18, data by Ace Equity showed.

Further, the number of laggards in the smallcap segment outnumbered gainers in the week gone by. As many as 543 stocks have given negative returns in the week ended August 18, compared to 485 in the week-ago period. Market sentiment has been hit since the hawkish remarks on inflation by the Reserve Bank of India, and this got further dampened by the US Federal Reserve’s view that interest rates may need to harden further to bring down inflation.

With inflation concerns coming back, foreign investors seem to be moving their bets to bonds and haven asset, dollar. On Thursday, the rupee ended at a record closing low of 83.1450 against the greenback. So far in August, the dollar index has net gained close to 2%.

The macro concerns has dampened the euphoria among bulls and this saw the Sensex and Nifty 50 end 0.3% down at 64848.66 points and 19310.15 points, respectively.Smallcap Gainers/Laggards The top five gainers in the smallcap segment last week were Digispice Technologies, Garden Reach Shipbuilders, BF Utilities, Cochin Shipyard, and DB Realty. These stocks gained 25-43% in the week gone by, and also hit fresh 52-week highs. Robust earnings have driven the gains in Cochin Shipyard.