Full circle: more than 100 stocks swing from 52-wk high to 52-wk low

If you want to get an idea of how rapidly the stock markets are deteriorating, consider this fact: 136 companies from the BSE 500 hit their 52-week lows earlier this week.

[caption id=“attachment_133786” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Among these fallen stocks are Adani Power, BGR Energy, BHEL, Crompton Greaves, HPCL, IOC among others. AFP”]  [/caption]

Even more surprising is that fact that 132 out of those 136 were actually basking in the glory of being at 52-week highs exactly a year ago.Among these fallen stocks are Adani Power, BGR Energy, BHEL, Crompton Greaves, HPCL, IOC among others. You can view the performance of the 132 stocks over the last one year below.

What a reversal of fortune. The downfall was even more severe for 26 stocks, which tumbled to lifetime lows on Wednesday.

The reasons for the U-turn in prices are not difficult to seek. In the case of shares from capital goods, infrastructure and power companies, their decline has been primarily driven by a series of problems dogging these respective sectors.

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For instance, the leading losers in the capital goods and infrastructure industries are L&T, BHEL, Crompton Greaves and GMR Infra, all of which have been plagued by sector issues like lack of environmental clearances and land allocation issues. All these issues have dragged down the pace of execution of projects and order inflows, compelling investors to dump these stocks.

In real estate, HDIL and Indiabulls Real Estate have faced investor ire because of the plunging demand for real estate and high interest rates, which have increased borrowing costs for companies.

In the power sector, companies like Adani Power, CESC, JSW Energy, KEC, Kalpataru fell on the bad side of investors as they suffered because of a shortage of coal in the power generation sector and huge distribution losses in the transmission and distribution sector.

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Here are the ten sectors that have taken a beating in the last one year

**Real estate:**Real estate sector has taken a beating going down 57 percent in the last one year. Steep prices, slowing demand due to high interest rates have made the real estate companies bleed with names like Unitech and Indiabulls real estate in our list.

[caption id=“attachment_133769” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“Unitech”]  [/caption]

Commercial property also has not attracted many buyers due to slowdown in corporate earnings and business. Companies are now being pushed to sell land they have been holding as building properties and holding on to inventory is too costly for most players.

Infrastructure/capital goods: Capital goods and infrastructure space dominate the list with big names like L&T, Bhel, Crompton Greaves and GMR Infra as government decision making has come to a grinding halt.

[caption id=“attachment_133770” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“L&T”]  [/caption]

The space is fighting with its own issues like environmental clearances and land allocation issues. All of the issues have brought down pace of execution of projects, order inflows dragging down stock prices. L&T has brought down its order inflow guidance form 15 percent to 5 percent for the year which has been the major cause for the stock bleeding. Meanwhile, companies like Bhel are suffering due to excessive competition from Chinese power equipment manufacturers.

Power: Power is another major sector that features in the list with representation from generation (Adani Power, JSW Energy), distribution (CESC) and transmission (KEC, Kalpataru, Jyoti Structures) segments.

[caption id=“attachment_133775” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“Adani”]  [/caption]

The generation side suffers due to shortage of coal and lack of environmental clearance. Transmission orders do not see execution till generation moves ahead while huge distribution losses have marred the outlook for distribution companies as well.

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PSU banks: Asset quality is a big concern for all public sector banks as the computing of non performing assets or bad loans no longer depend on the discretion of bank employees but computerized accounting. With credit growth slowing and more loan restructuring, banks have also bled in last one year. Lot of companies that had been given the benefit of doubt in 2008 crisis by loans being restructured now face the possibility of slipping into bad loans. And the public sector banks face greater danger in maintaining asset quality when compared to private banks.

[caption id=“attachment_133776” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“Karnatake Bank”]  [/caption]

NBFC: The banks were not alone in the beating last year with non banking financial companies also joining in. The gang was led by SKS Microfinance, the only microfinance company listed in India. SKS fell continually after the Andhra Pradesh government stood up against their alleged malpractices in collecting repayments for loans. The other NBFCs like Shriram Transport also suffered mainly due to slowing credit demand and asset quality risks.

[caption id=“attachment_133777” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“SKS Microfinance”]  [/caption]

Metals: Metals, especially steel and iron ore definitely did not have their best year. With reports on illegal mining coming to the fore and the Supreme Court banning iron ore mining in most parts of Karnataka, steel companies began to suffer. Add to that the fall in global steel prices, and the sector stocks went for a toss. SAIL and JSW Steel have been two of the biggest rulers. SAIL also suffered due to slower expansion of capacities.

[caption id=“attachment_133780” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“SAIL”]  [/caption]

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Refineries: Global oil scenario and mismanagement of oil policies by the government have been two major causes for the oil refineries to suffer.

[caption id=“attachment_133782” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“HPCL”]  [/caption]

Crude oil prices rose through last year due to global turmoil in some oil rich countries like Libya and supply getting constrained. Decontrol of diesel prices were not allowed by the government and mounting losses dragged down the stocks further.

**Retail:**Slowdown in consumer demand, excess capacities ahead of and longer working capital cycles have all hit retailers badly.

[caption id=“attachment_133783” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“Pantaloon”]  [/caption]

Pantaloon, the top retailing company in the sector has been severely hit as it has a mounting pile of debt accumulated due to aggressive expansions and lower sales resulting in longer working capital. Pantaloon’s sales have been flat despite rising mall space, while its profits are falling due to higher interest cost eating into its operating profits.

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Sugar: Piling inventory due to record production for two years and a ban on sugar exports has led to sugar companies posting declining profits. Rising cane prices and lower off take of levy sugar also had an impact on the profitability of companies.

[caption id=“attachment_133784” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“Shree Renuka Sugars”]  [/caption]

Shree Renuka Sugar was among the worst hit sugar companies as it has international operations through its unit in Brazil. International sugar and ethanol prices too have been hit by excess supplies.

Shipping: Economic growth world over is best reflected by movement of goods through ships. Baltic Freight Index, which measures the freight rates trades at half the rate it did a year ago, reflecting the slow pace of growth across the world.

[caption id=“attachment_133785” align=“alignleft” width=“600” caption=“SCI”]  [/caption]

Shipping Corporation of India, the largest Indian shipping company reflects the same sentiment. The company has been posting losses over the last two quarter, which has resulted in the stock falling sharply.