Small-caps steal the show with 7:1 advance-decline ratio today, but mid-caps lag behind

Small-cap stocks dominated trading on November 19, boasting an impressive 7:1 advance-decline ratio, while mid-caps posted a more modest 5:1 ratio. Despite both the BSE Mid-cap and BSE Small-cap indices gaining 1.8%—their strongest rise since November 11—small-caps clearly outshone mid-caps.

As of 2:33 pm, 808 of the 946 BSE Small-cap stocks were in the green, with eight jumping over 10%, 42 gaining between 5–10%, and 758 rising 1–5%. In contrast, only four mid-cap stocks climbed over 5%, while 84 rose 1–5%, and 24 increased marginally by 0.1–1%. The BSE 100 segment saw the weakest performance, with an advance-decline ratio of just 4:1.

Despite today’s rally, small- and mid-cap indices have struggled more than the frontline stock since late September, with the respective indices falling 12% and 11%, respectively, compared to the Sensex and Nifty's slightly smaller declines.

Notably, most FII selling has been concentrated in large-caps, with FPIs offloading Rs1.17 lakh crore from NSE's top 100 stocks in October. In contrast, FPIs invested Rs 851 crore and Rs 1,202 crore in the Nifty SmallCap 250 and MidCap 250 indices, respectively, possibly because of under-ownership (by foreign investors) and expectations of higher growth potential among retail investors.