In the week gone by, the benchmark Sensex traded in a narrow range, with bulls reigning till the market sentiment was dampened by a cautious Reserve Bank of India (RBI) refraining from a significant cut in the inflation forecast. While the Sensex gave near-flat returns, as many as three smallcap stocks offered more than 20 percent returns on an average this week. The S&P BSE Smallcap index pipped the benchmark by gaining nearly 1 percent in last five trading sessions.
The S&P BSE Smallcap index opened at Rs 31,412.15 level, and reached a high of 31,523.21 today (June 9). Among the smallcap pack, shares of Greenlam Industries have offered the highest returns of 30 percent, followed by HBL Power Systems (HBL) and Uttam Sugar Mills Limited, which rose 15 percent and 12.47 percent, respectively.
Greenlam Industries, a laminate manufacturer, topped the list of gainers in the smallcap segment, giving a massive 30 percent returns last week. The stock also scaled a 52-week high of Rs 483.75 level on Friday, June 9. In the last one month, the stock gained 56 percent, while it rose 46 percent on a year-to-date basis.
The stock gained after its subsidiary HG Industries commenced production at a newly-built manufacturing facility at Tindivanam, Tamil Nadu, with an potential revenue of Rs 400 crore per annum at full capacity. The facility will manufacture plywood and allied products.
HBL Power Systems (HBL) is another stock that has taken Dalal Street to a surprise. The stock rose 15 percent last week, while it was up 31 percent on a year-to-date basis.
HBL shares continued its rally over the optimism of the Kavach system as the central government plans to expedite its wide-scale adoption across the Indian Railways network.
The stock prices of anti-collision device makers have witnessed a surge in the past few sessions on the growing optimism surrounding the potential deployment of the Kavach system, an automatic train protection system, following the recent Odisha train tragedy.
The other stock on the list is Uttam Sugar Mills, which gave more than 12 percent returns to investors in the week gone by. The non-stop run for 10 sessions saw the stock test an over four-year high of Rs 1,930.45 on Friday.
Shares of Uttam Sugar Mills are rallying after the company announced its unaudited financial results for the March quarter. The company reported a net profit of Rs 70 crore in Q4FY23, against Rs 61.06 crore in Q4FY22 and Rs 26.06 crore in the third quarter of FY23. It recorded a 14.64 percent year-on-year rise and a 168.61 percent quarter-on-quarter rise in net profit.
