Indian equity markets ended on a mixed note in February. Where the benchmark equity index BSE Sensex and BSE MidCap indices advanced over 1% each last month, the BSE SmallCap index retreated 1.09% during the same period. However, at least 13 stocks listed on BSE more than doubled investors’ wealth.
With a rally of 188% NDA Securities emerged as the top gainer during the month gone by. It was followed by Kisan Mouldings (up 170%), RS Software (up 141%) and Kesar India (up 140%). Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,539 crore in February. Earlier, they offloaded shares of over Rs 25,000 crore in January. According to Jefferies, resurgence of a multi-year capex upcycle implies robust 6-7% GDP growth over the next 5-7 years.
“Foreign investor positioning on India is light and CY24 should see greater inflows which should help banking stocks. We like domestic cyclicals such as banks, power, telecom, industrial and property,” the global brokerages said.
Among the other major gainers, Aananda Lakshmi Spinning Mills, Jayabharat Credit, Shakti Press, HB Leasing & Finance Company and Jubilant Industries also surged 135%, 133%, 120%, 118% and 112%, respectively, during the month. ASM Technologies, Sreechem Resins, Acceleratebs India and Duroply Industries also rallied over 100% in February.
Meanwhile, reports suggested that the market regulator Sebi asked asset managers to furnish more information to investors about the risks associated with their small and mid-cap funds.
Going ahead, Emkay Global Financial Services sees Nifty at 24,000 mark, indicating an upside of nearly 8% against the current all-time high levels of 22,304. “We expect SMIDs (small and midcaps) to outperform and, in general, prefer manufacturing to services. We expect non-linear returns: a muted Q1 and Q4, with the returns being concentrated in Apr-Sep, coinciding with the election results, the full Budget in July, and rate cuts in the USA and India,” Emkay Global Financial Services said in a report.
For stock-specific investors, Progressive Share Brokers suggested Astral Ltd (Target price: Rs 2284 & Rs 2500), Computer Age Management Services (Target price: Rs 3,501 & Rs 3,930), Garware Technical Fibres (TP: Rs 4,218 & Rs 4,800), Havells India (TP: Rs 1714 & Rs 1898), Indus Towers (TP: Rs 288 & Rs 323), Indo Count Industries (TP: Rs 433 & Rs 526), Graphite India (TP: Rs 747 & Rs 896) and SH Kelkar and Company (TP: Rs 247 & Rs 297).
Meanwhile, the benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty kicked off March on a positive note after the country’s GDP growth of 8.4% in Q3FY24 continued to surprise on the upside. The 30-share index Sensex soared over 1,000 points in the afternoon trade on March 1, while the 50-share Nifty index was up over 300 points.