Small-caps lag during September quarter

The large-cap-focused indices delivered their best quarterly gains since the December 2020 quarter. The Nifty50 and the Sensex rose 12.1 per cent and 12.7 per cent, respectively. However, the broader markets underperformed, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining 11.9 per cent after rising more than 20 per cent in the preceding quarter. The Midcap 100 gained in line with the Sensex, after rising 14 per cent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, India was the bestperforming major market globally, followed by Indonesia and New Zealand, which rose about 5 per cent each. Hong Kong and Brazil were the worst-performing major markets as they fell 14.8 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively. The Nifty Realty index rose nearly 50 per cent during the quarter and touched levels last seen in 2010. The Nifty IT index was the second-best performing sectoral index with 20 per cent gains, even after coming off sharply in the last few sessions. Bajaj Finserv and Bharti Airtel delivered most gains among the Nifty components, while UPL and Dr Reddy’s posted a double-digit fall.