As many as 852 shares -- accounting for 33 per cent of the traded stocks -- declined to a one-month low level on Thursday even as the BSE Sensex posted the biggest single day fall after May 17, 2004. Of the lot, 106 hit new three-month lows on Thursday.
The fall in the market value of small cap stocks has also wiped out the gains made in the past three weeks in just three trading days beginning Tuesday.
The aggregate market value of 495 small-cap stocks included in the index eroded by Rs 17,965 crore (Rs 179.65 billion) from Rs 1,51,409 crore (Rs 1,514.09 billion) on September 19 to Rs 1,33,448 crore (Rs 1,334.48 billion) on Thursday. The fall in the market cap came from 200 stocks (BSE small cap index has 495 stocks) which declined to their new one-month low on Thursday.
In the last three days, the BSE small-cap index declined by more than 12 per cent from 6,363.62 per cent on September 19 to 5,579.25 per cent on Thursday. The mid-cap index during the period dropped by 8.3 per cent (361 points) and the Sensex just 2.6 per cent (223 points).
Small-cap index outperformed all other indices with wide margins till Monday. The index declined by a record 460 points on Thursday, down 233.6 points on Wednesday and 90.4 points on Tuesday. The small cap index, which fell by 784 points in two days, eroded investors wealth by Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion).
In the last four months the small-cap index appreciated by 68 per cent compared to the mid-cap index of 44 per cent and Sensex 36 per cent.
Of the 495 scrips, the market value of 41 stocks declined by more than 20 per cent in three days; market price of 125 stocks dropped in the range of 15-20 per cent; 172 stocks declined 10-15 per cent and 111 scrips declined between 5-10 per cent.
GTC was the largest loser of the lot. It has declined by 27.5 per cent in three days -- from Rs 148.44 on Monday to 107.70 on Thursday. Welspun Syntex was down 27 per cent from Rs 16.5 to Rs 12.05, MP Glychem 27 per cent to Rs 36.75 (Rs 50.10), GHCL 26 per cent to Rs 91.35 (Rs 123.35), JCT 26 per cent to Rs 13.55 (Rs 18.20) and Hotline Glass 25 per cent to Rs 14.05 (Rs 18.85).
The stocks that touched lifetime highs on Monday and now traded at one month lows include ITI (Rs 57.75), Raipur Alloys (Rs 91.45), Aksh Optfibre (Rs 61.25), Siyaram Silk (Rs 210.10), Zicom Electronic Security Systems (Rs 145.15) and Salora International (Rs 122.65).
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