India stocks climb to record as rally broadens to smaller firms
The MSCI India Mid-Cap Index is playing catch up after losing 18% in the past two years
Mumbai: India stocks surged to a record high, buoyed by gains in smaller firms as a recent rally broadened to the wider market.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed up 0.5 per cent to 41,020.61 in Mumbai and the NSE Nifty 50 Index also advanced 0.5 per cent.
The MSCI India Mid-Cap Index is playing catch up after losing 18 per cent in the past two years, lagging the benchmark Sensex’s gain of about 21 per cent. Smaller firms may be poised to rise further as analysts at Citigroup Inc. say that with “better risk-reward,” they would look to selectively add some mid-cap stocks.
Strategist View
“We have seen a broadening of the trend of the market going up, there is some participation from mid-caps as well, showing the rally has more strength compared to earlier,” said Abhimanyu Sofat, head of research at IIFL Securities Ltd., “There is a lot of money still on the sidelines waiting to invest.”