The Nifty Midcap 150 reached a record high of 23,239.65 on Thursday, while the Smallcap 250 traded just 3.8% below its all-time high, according to The Economic Times. However, the broader market breadth shows concerning weakness with the average monthly Advance to Decline ratio hovering around 1, indicating that gainers and losers are almost evenly matched each day. The ratio has been 1.01 so far in July, after hovering around the same levels in May and June, compared to a jump to 2.13 in April during the market recovery amid US-Iran peace talks. As per The Economic Times, the Nifty Microcap 250 is also only 5.7% away from its lifetime peak, highlighting the selective nature of current market performance.
Shares of midcap and smallcap companies were under pressure due to profit booking on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) during Friday's intra-day trading, as reported by Business Standard. GE Vernova T&D India, National Aluminium Company, Polycab, BSE, KEI Industries and Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) from the Nifty Midcap 100 index, along with Welspun Corp, Piramal Finance, Gland Pharma, GE Shipping, Aarti Industries, Physicswallah and IIFL Finance from the Nifty Smallcap 100 index, were down in the range of 3 per cent to 5 per cent. The broader market strength is supported by solid participation, with the percentage of stocks trading above their 200-day SMA within the Nifty 500 universe improving to 53 per cent (up from 43 per cent during the prior market peak in May), according to ICICI Securities.
CEAT shares tumbled 7.55% following the company's Q1FY27 results announcement, as reported by Business Standard. The tyre major reported a 96.43% year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit to ₹4 crore in Q1FY27, compared with ₹112 crore in Q1FY26. However, revenue from operations rose 22.36% year-on-year to ₹4,318 crore in the first quarter of FY27 from ₹3,529 crore a year earlier. The margin pressure was attributed to raw material inflation rising 20 per cent plus in Q1FY27, with Brent crude surging from around $65 to above $100 and natural rubber prices rising from roughly ₹190/kg to ₹250/kg in India due to global pricing and rupee depreciation.
Tech Mahindra shares jumped 2.96% after the company reported steady performance for Q1FY27, supported by strong deal momentum and margin expansion, according to Business Standard. On a consolidated basis, profit after tax (PAT) rose 28.45% year-on-year to ₹1,465.1 crore in Q1FY27 from ₹1,140.6 crore in Q1FY26. On a sequential basis, PAT increased 8.22% from ₹1,353.8 crore in Q4FY26. Revenue from operations rose 17.68% YoY and 4.22% quarter-on-quarter to ₹15,711.9 crore in Q1FY27 from ₹13,351.2 crore in Q1FY26 and ₹15,076.1 crore in Q4FY26. The strong performance was driven by robust deal wins and operational efficiency improvements.
The market breadth remains weak despite indices trading near all-time highs because fund flows are concentrated in mid- and small-cap equity funds, as explained by The Economic Times. SIP inflows are deployed into the same universe of 300-400 stocks, forcing fund managers to repeatedly buy many of the same names, including index heavyweights. This concentration pushes select stocks and indices higher, even as individual portfolios remain below their highs and the advance-decline ratio stays weak. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been net sellers of shares worth ₹2.87 lakh crore so far in 2026, resulting in the benchmark Nifty underperforming the broad market indices with the Nifty 50 down nearly 7% this year and trading in a narrow 23,500-24,500 range. The Nifty 50 faces resistance at 24,500-24,600, with a breakout potentially paving the way toward 25,000.
