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Kumar Shankar Roy

Chennai, Sept 19

The sectors and stocks that have led the September rally have been quite different from the ones that drove the preceding one that lasted until July.

Gains in the BSE’s sectoral indices between August 17 and September 19 show that stocks from interest rate-sensitive sectors such as banking and real estate, as well as commodity stocks, have been at the forefront of this particular rally.

Real estate stocks, which were bogged down by worries about property prices and interest rates until a few weeks ago, have made a strong recovery from their lows.

The BSE Realty Index has gained 20.6 per cent over this period.

The BSE Bankex has been a strong gainer too, with a 18 per cent appreciation, as expectations that interest rates have peaked pointed to a stronger growth in credit offtake for banks.

Commodity sectors such as metals and oil and gas have also led from the front, this time round.

The BSE Metals Index was the top sector performer, outperforming the Sensex by 12 percentage points, helped by handsome gains in Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sterlite.

Oil & gas companies followed, led by gains in stocks such as Reliance Industries, ONGC, GAIL and Cairn Energy.

Defensive sectors such as FMCGs and consumer durables also threw off a long spell of sluggishness, to post strong gains in this rally.

Technology stocks, weighed down by worries about a slowdown in US IT spends, were a big disappointment, with the BSE IT Index barely registering any gains over the month.

This rally was also quite broadbased, with significant participation from small cap stocks.

While the BSE Small cap index outperformed the Sensex, the midcap index trailed it in the August 17 to September 19 period.

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