Fear of aggressive rate hikes keep investors on the back foot

Indian equity benchmarks halted a six-day-long losing streak on Monday, though fears of aggressive rate hikes and their impact on economic growth kept investors on the back foot.

The Nifty, the midcap index and the smallcap index were completely polar opposite in Monday's trade. The Nifty was up half a percent, the midcap index was down 2 percent, and the smallcap index was down 3 percent.

A report by Antique says, in the last 10 years there are four instances where the Nifty outperformed the midcap index by about 2.5 percent and more. According to the report, over the next five days after this happens in all four instances, the returns for both the Nifty and the midcap index was positive.