Investors’ preference for large-cap stocks has caused a chasm, the widest in two decades, between market capitalisations of these scrips and small- and mid-cap counterparts, according to data from the BSE. The market cap proportion of ‘A’ group shares on the exchange has surged to 94 per cent, the highest since 2000 – as against the long-term average of around 84 per cent.
Since the high of January 2018 small- and mid-cap shares have dropped 30 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, even as the bellwether S&P BSE Sensex has gained 21 per cent during the same period. Consequently, the price-ratio (or, the ratio of respective indices) between the midcaps and the Sensex has dropped to 0.069, the lowest in a decade and compared with the 10-year average of 0.086, according to Bloomberg data.