Nifty Microcap 250 index gained nearly 10 per cent in January 2024, outperforming the benchmark Nifty 50 index that dropped 0.03 per cent last month. According to a report by domestic brokerage firm Motilal Oswal titled ‘Global Market Snapshot’, Nifty Microcap 250 rose 9.98 per cent last month, while Nifty Smallcap 250 and Nifty Midcap 150 rose 7.28 per cent and 4.73 per cent respectively.
In addition, Nifty Microcap 250 outperformed the other indices when compared on a three-month, six-month, and on an annual basis. In the last three months, Nifty Microcap 250 rose 26.80 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 250 was up 25.28 per cent, while the Nifty Next 50 rose 25.63 per cent.
In the last six months, Nifty Microcap 250 and Nifty Smallcap 250 clocked gains of 41.94 per cent and 32.66 per cent respectively, against Nifty 50 which rose 9.98 per cent during the period. Finally, even on a 12-month basis, both indices rose 88.72 per cent and 62.64 per cent respectively – clocking the highest gains when compared to other major indices including Nifty 50 and Nifty 500, according to Motilal Oswal.
‘’In January 2024, the stock markets remained flat, as evidenced by a slight decline of 0.03% in the Nifty 50 index. The Nifty Microcap 250 emerged as the best performing index with an impressive growth of 9.9 per cent,” said the brokerage.
Building on last month’s positive trend, the energy sector once again took the lead with a robust 9.8 per cent increase. The bank index experienced a notable downturn and was the worst performer with a substantial decline of 4.8 per cent.
All the factor-based investment strategies delivered positive returns. Once again, the value factor led the way, experiencing the highest increase at 8.7 per cent for the month, followed closely by the momentum factor with a gain of 6.2 per cent. Contrary to the previous month where it held the highest contribution, the financial services sector tuned into the worst contributor, negatively impacting the overall returns of the Nifty 500 index by 0.8 per cent.
Global Markets
In the US, S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 both experienced 1.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent gains respectively in January 2024 with the information technology sector once again being the largest contributor to the S&P 500’s rise.
All the emerging markets indices saw negative performance, with China being the worst performer at 10.6 per cent. As far as developed markets are concerned, Japan emerged as the best performer at 4.6 per cent.
Crude oil prices have started picking up again and rose by 6.3 per cent during January due to Red Sea tensions, reduction in US oil inventories and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Gold and silver prices witnessed a fall of 1.2 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum ended on a flat note.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
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Published: 07 Feb 2024, 06:43 PM IST