Even as the Sensex oscillated in a narrow band throughout the session and finally closed the day in the red, the BSE Small-cap index ignored the resistance and marched up by 1.56 per cent or 86.65 points and closed at 5,653.69, its all-time high level.Also, 31 BSE Small-cap stocks hit the upper circuit levels. The strong market breadth was an indication of the upward thrust with gainers at 308 outnumbering declines at 181.Opening the day at 5,581.15, the BSE Small-cap index surged 104.38 points to touch an intra-day high of 5,685.53. The index recorded a volume of 16.80 crore shares amounting to Rs 891.17 crore.Dealers are of the view that as the benchmark Sensex has lost its direction, the small-cap index is looking more attractive to the players as these stocks provide more growth potential. In fact, over the past month, the small-cap index has outperformed the Sensex by 8 percentage points.
