NEW DELHI: In line with midcaps, smallcaps too were underperforming Sensex in Monday's trade.Around 11:45 am, the BSE Smallcap index was trading 0.51 per cent down at 17728, while the BSE Sensex and Nifty were flat at 35,531 and 10,803, respectively.
Shares of Reliance Naval and Engineering (down 13.73 per cent), PTC India Financial Services (down 13.12 per cent), PC Jeweller (down 10.39 per cent) and Ruchi Soya Industries (down 10.36 per cent) plunged over 10 per cent in the smallcap index.Housing Development Infrastructure (down 8.29 per cent), Neuland Laboratories (down 7.99 per cent), Dena Bank (down 7.32 per cent) and Uttam Sugar Mills (down 7.18 per cent) also were among the top losers in the index.On the other hand, shares of NRB Bearings (up 10.37 per cent), Kirloskar Brothers (up 8.31 per cent), Shree Pushkar Chemicals Fertilisers (up 8.27 per cent), Ducon Infratechnologies (up 8.19 per cent), Phoenix Mills (up 7.07 per cent) and Bodal Chemicals (up 7.05 per cent) were the top gainers among the smallcap stocks.
Equity benchmarks were cautious owing to political uncertainty as various exit polls released over the weekend suggests no clear winner in the Karnataka elections.
Disappointing macroeconomic data, released on Friday, too dented market sentiment.
Industrial output growth fell to a five-month low of 4.4 per cent in March due to a decline in capital goods production and deceleration in mining activity and power generation, PTI reported.In the Sensex index, 15 stocks were in the green, while 16 were in the red.
Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services were the top losers in the Sensex index.