Beware! Over 80% of BSE mid & smallcap stocks in bear grip

New Delhi: The latest round of correction on Dalal Street has wreaked havoc in broader market space, with more than 80 per cent of mid and smallcap shares slipping into the bear grip, along with the indices tracking these second-rung stocks.

A bear grip is confirmed when an index or a stock plunges 20 per cent or more from its most recent high.

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With the market slipping into bearish territory, investors have to be cautious, said Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

According to the data from Ace Equity, out of nearly 1,000 constituents of BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices, close to 830 stocks have fallen more than 20 per cent from their respective 52-week highs. The majority of these stocks had hit their 52-week highs over the last six months itself. Out of these stocks, 70 have tanked more than 50 per cent from their recent highs.

Suvidhaa Infoserve has eroded about 91 per cent of investor wealth, dropping down to Rs 9.87 from its 52-week high of Rs 111 hit on March 31, 2021.

Sadbhav Infrastructure Project and SREI Infrastructure Finance are two other stocks that have tumbled more than 70 per cent from their latest peaks, hit in the first half ongoing fiscal.

Sadbhav Engineering, SVP Global Textiles, Strides Pharma Science, Dilip Buildcon, GTL Infrastructure and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) were other players which tumbled between 60-70 per cent from their 52-week highs.

Gayatri Projects, Take Solutions, Solara Active Pharma Sciences, Vaibhav Global, Sequent Scientific, Suryoday Small Finance Bank, Neuland Laboratories, Yaari Digital Integrated Services, Bliss GVS Pharma, GE Power and Reliance Capital are some of the other stocks down more than 60 per cent from their latest highs.

Other prominent names that have lost more than 50 per cent include SORIL Infra, Ramco Systems, Aarti Surfactants, Jubilant Pharmova, Wockhardt, PNB Housing, IndiaMart, Ujjivan Financial, Indiabulls Housing, Vakrangee, Ujjivan SFB, Hikal, Lux Industries, Marksans Pharma, Subex, Brightcom Group and RBL Bank among others.

However, a handful of names have dropped 5 per cent or less from their 52-week highs, including Future Enterprises DVR and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals, which scaled highs on Friday only.

Other than them, Nahar Poly Films, Butterfly Gandhimathi Appliances, Excel Industries, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, Kennametal India, Capri Global Capital and Escorts have dropped between 3-5 per cent each.

"Right now though the market is not sure how much uncertainty there is. War is going on. It seems like it will stay contained within a finite geographic area but you cannot be sure, said Prashant Khemka, Founder, White Oak Capital.

"As soon as the market gets some intuitive sense, it will start recovering and rallying well before the market men or experts become comfortable with what is going on in the world," he added.