Steel stocks steal the show in lacklustre April for equity markets

The benchmark indices ended little changed in April, but the rally in steel stocks remained the highlight for the month. Returns for the month slipped into marginal negative territory because of the 2 per cent fall on Friday. The small-cap universe outperformed by a huge margin, with the BSE Smallcap index gaining 4.9 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 adding 5.6 per cent. Among sectoral indices, the BSE Metal index rose 24 per cent with stocks like JSW Steel and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) posting more than 50 per cent gain. The realty index fell the most — 7.6 per cent — after several states imposed restrictions on movements to curb the spread of coronavirus. The devastating second wave in India saw the domestic markets underperform most global peers in April.