Midcaps top annual returns; commodities alone contribute to Nifty 500
The Nifty Midcap 150, despite a one-month decline of 3.53 per cent in January, emerged as a top gainer on annual basis, delivering one-year returns of 8.26 per cent, a report said on Tuesday.
The report from Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund said the index delivered returns of -2.52 per cent and 0.61 per cent over the last three months and six months respectively.
Commodities were the only positive contributor to the Nifty 500 in January, the report further said. Among sectors, Metals and Defence gained around 6 per cent, while FMCG, Realty and Consumer Durables fell between 6 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.
The Nifty 50 fell 3.10 per cent in January but rose 7.71 per cent over the past year. Nifty 500 remained flat in January and closed the year up 6.94 per cent and midcap and smallcap indices were negative for the month, down about 3.53 per cent to 5.52 per cent.
Value factor continued to outperform other metrics in terms of stock gains, up 2.4 per cent in January and about 25 per cent over the year, while “Momentum, Low Vol and Quality ended lower in January however they have been positive over the year”, the report said.
The Nifty Smallcap 250 and Nifty Microcap 250 saw monthly declines of 5.52 per cent and 5.66 per cent, respectively, the report added.
Silver emerged as the best performer in asset classes, delivering the highest returns of 43.34 per cent for the month and 226.50 per cent YoY, while gold returned 14.06 per cent in January and 77.16 per cent over the year.
CPI inflation stayed low but edged up to 1.33 per cent in January. The 10-year G-sec yield moved up to 6.70 per cent indicating a mild uptick in market rates even as policy rates remained unchanged.
Domestic activity stayed resilient with Composite PMI at 59.5 and GST collections strengthening to Rs 1.93 lakh crore.
