Retail investors no longer fancy smallcaps; top 10 stocks that are seeing mass desertion

Retail investors have been busy dumping smallcap stocks after some of them gained up to 47 per cent in last one year. This category of investors reduced their holdings in 671 companies in last one year but increased in 767 others, said a report compiled by Prime Database.

Top ten stocks that saw a drop in retail holdings in double digits during the quarter ended June 30 included Ashima, Shree RamaBSE -3.36 % Newsprint, MIC ElectronicsBSE -1.31 %, Alankit, Rajrayon Industries, Gujarat NRE CokeBSE -0.32 %, PolarisBSE 0.85 % Consulting, Orient AbrasivesBSE -0.67 %, Sujana Metal ProductsBSE 2.53 % and Future Enterprises.

"At an aggregate level, it may be true that the exits are happening in stocks that rose too fast too much, which enticed retail investors to exit at the best prices available. But those very stocks had indeed seen turnarounds to figure on the charts of top yearly gainers," Jimeet Modi, CEO, SAMCO Securities, told ETMarkets.com.

Forex reserve at record high of $367.169 billion

 The country's foreign exchange reserves increased by a healthy USD 1.346 billion to touch a record high of USD 367.169 billion in the week to August 19 mainly due to a rise in foreign currency assets (FCAs).

Last week, the reserves had shot up by USD 73.2 million to USD 365.822 billion.

FCAs, a major component of the overall reserves, rose by USD 1.315 billion to USD 341.675 billion, the Reserve Bank said today.

FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies such as euro, pound and yen held in the reserves.

Gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 21.584 billion.

The country's special drawing rights with International Monetary Fund increased by USD 11.8 million to USD 1.497 billion, while the reserve position was up by USD 19.2 million to USD 2.411 billion, RBI said.