The Nifty midcap index slumped over 2.5 percent or 800 points Wednesday—the biggest intraday slump since June 18, 2021. With this, the scrip has lost 3 percent in two consecutive sessions, dragged by the likes of IRCTC, Navin Fluorine, Deepak Nitrite, and Dixon.

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The index that saw a stellar rally of 20 percent in the past three months, hitting 32,912—a lifetime high on Monday, is on a downhill. At the time of writing, the index was trading nearly a percent or 278 points lower at 31,892. Despite the past bullishness, analysts think it is time to be a little cautious on the index.

“Not because they have done so well but because whenever we see valuations in excess of the largecaps at not very different growth rates, that is where we start to become a little cautious,” Susmit Patodia of Motilal Oswal AMC told CNBC-TV18.

IRCTC led this crash today; the stock has crashed 20 percent - meaning, there are only sellers for the stock. IRCTC has been on a downtrend for the last two days, having corrected 22 percent. It surged over 250 percent in the past year, prompting investors to cash in on the gains.

“Typically, what happens is when markets move up so much, they tend to get a little edgier. A bit of it has been triggered in the backdrop of very strong markets, by the fact that a couple of large companies have kind of disappointed vis-a-vis expectations. Now the disappointments haven't been large, they aren't against the run of play, which is businesses generally looking better. But there is a little skittishness in the market and that is playing into stock prices,” Aditya Narain of Edelweiss Securities said.

Navin Fluorine, another stock leading the crash, has plunged over 10 percent Wednesday. At the time of writing, it was down 5 percent to Rs 3,670. The company had reported its second-quarter numbers Tuesday and saw its net profit falling by 6.77 percent. The net profit for the second quarter of the current fiscal is Rs 63.22 crore, against Rs 67.81 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous one.

Deepak Nitrite was another stock on the offence today. The scrip has risen over 175 percent this year, and over 280 percent in the past 12 months. But today, the stock was down nearly 10 percent from the previous close, hitting as low as Rs 2,633. At the time of writing, it was trading nearly seven percent lower at Rs 2,724.

“So, I tend to believe if there is a trigger, it's the fact that large stocks have lost value on the back of small misses. And that, you know, nervousness tends to extend to some of the smaller ones or the ones that have moved up more sharply,” Narain added.

Lending support to the indices was a handful of stocks that rose 1-3 percent. The India Hotels gained over 5 percent on Wednesday. At the time of writing, it was trading over three percent higher at Rs 222.

ISEC aka ICICI Securities was up over 8 percent in the session today. At the time of writing, it was trading over two percent higher at Rs 836.

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First Published:Oct 20, 2021 10:48 AM IST