Mumbai: Mid- and small-cap companies delivered strong earnings performance in the June quarter, posting their sharpest revenue growth in 16 quarters, shrugging off the impact of rising commodity prices, mainly oil, amid West Asia conflict.

Of the sample of 113 companies in the Nifty MidCap 150 index, aggregate revenue in April-June climbed 20%, its biggest jump since June 2022, from the same period a year ago. Operating profit rose 27%, extending its streak of double-digit growth to 13 quarters, according to Capitaline data. Aggregate net profit surged 23% year on year, marking the second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

Total costs increased 17.2% year on year, the sharpest rise in 14 quarters.

The smallcap segment recorded an even stronger performance. Of the sample of 213 companies in the Nifty SmallCap 250 index, aggregate net profit surged 42.5%, its biggest jump in six quarters. Revenue rose 19.3%, its strongest growth in 14 quarters, while operating profit increased 27.5%, its biggest jump in five quarters. Total costs rose 18%, the sharpest increase in 13 quarters.

“A favourable base has certainly helped smallcaps,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. “The June-quarter numbers represent a combination of favourable base effects, revenue growth, operating leverage, improving margins and some low-base and loss-to-profit benefits.”

The sample for both indices excludes banking, financial services, insurance, and oil and gas companies. Vodafone Idea has also been excluded from the small-cap index as it reported a large one-time gain in the March 2026 quarter.
The better-than-anticipated results fuelled the run-up in the mid-cap and small-cap stocks. The Nifty MidCap 150 and Nifty SmallCap 250 gained 17% and 24.5%, respectively. In comparison, the Sensex gained nearly 6.3% during the quarter, while the Nifty advanced 6.8%.
Read more: Gold appears set for a rebound as it regains safe-haven appeal after US-Iran war selloff

Within midcaps, metals, technology, pharma and select companies were among the stronger contributors, while in smallcaps, chemicals, metals, building materials, auto and select industrial and consumer-facing businesses led the earnings growth.

Market participants said the earnings growth is supporting the elevated valuations of mid-cap and small-cap stocks. “Given the valuation levels, investors may need a longer horizon to allow that earnings potential to play out,” said Harshad Borawake, Head of Research & Fund Manager, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund. “Our approach, therefore, is to stay bottomup — backing individual ideas on their merits rather than making a top-down call on the index or any one sector.”

The Nifty’s current estimated Price to Earnings (PE) ratio is at 22 times, compared with its 10-year average of 23.5 times. The Nifty MidCap 150’s PE ratio based on reported earnings stood at 33 times, against its five-year average of 34, while the Nifty SmallCap 250’s stood at 32 times, above its five-year average of 29 times.

NEW YORK — The Nasdaq Composite edged higher Monday morning, climbing 25.30 points, or 0.095%, to 26,754.47 as of 9:36 a.m. EDT, as investors weighed the Federal Reserve’s next policy move ahead of this week’s Jackson Hole symposium and braced for a slate of major retail earnings reports expected to offer fresh insight into the health of the American consumer.

The modest gain came after U.S. stock futures wavered heading into Monday’s open. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.1% following the benchmark index’s third consecutive weekly advance. Nasdaq-100 futures had risen 0.5% ahead of the opening bell, reflecting a relatively calm week on Wall Street heading into a stretch that market participants expect to bring renewed volatility.

Big-box retailers including Walmart, Target, Lowe’s and Home Depot are scheduled to report quarterly results this week, providing investors with a closely watched read on consumer spending patterns during the critical back-to-school shopping season. The reports come at a moment when broader consumer sentiment data has shown signs of deterioration, adding weight to how markets are likely to interpret the retail sector’s performance.

Traders have recently pulled back the odds of a September interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve following its Jackson Hole meeting to less than one-third, according to market pricing, as a mix of inflation and jobs data has painted an increasingly mixed economic picture. Oil prices have remained a key variable for both markets and the central bank, with Brent crude closing in on $90 a barrel as fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah dealt a fresh setback to efforts aimed at ending overlapping conflicts in the Middle East.

Monday’s modest advance followed a softer finish to last week. On Friday, the S&P 500 eased 0.2% from its record high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 108 points, or 0.20%, to close at 53,732 points, and the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.1%. Declines on the Dow were led by Salesforce, down 2.25%, Cisco Systems, down 1.67%, and Amgen, down 1.28%. Those losses were partially offset by gains in Walt Disney, up 2.05%, Chevron, up 1.16%, and UnitedHealth, up 0.61%.

Friday’s pullback came alongside weaker-than-expected economic data. The University of Michigan’s preliminary August consumer sentiment index fell to 51.0, down from 55.2 in July and well below the 55 economists had forecast, marking a roughly 8% monthly decline that ended two consecutive months of improving sentiment. Survey director Joanne Hsu attributed much of the decline to worsening expectations for future business conditions. “Consumer sentiment fell about 8% this August, ending two consecutive months of improvement. While views of personal finances saw only minor declines, expected business conditions sank 11% for the short run and 17% for the long run,” Hsu said. She added that the decline was broad-based across political affiliations, noting that “decreases in sentiment were seen across the political spectrum, with Republicans exhibiting the strongest month-to-month decline in August.”

Inflation expectations also ticked higher in the same survey, with one-year expectations rising to 4.3% in August from 4.2% in July, a figure that remains well above the 3.4% level that prevailed before the recent conflict involving Iran began affecting global energy markets.

Retail sales data released last week added to the mixed economic picture. July retail sales declined 0.6%, a significant miss relative to the 0.1% increase economists polled by Dow Jones had expected, following a 0.2% gain in June. Excluding automobile sales, retail sales fell 0.3% in July, compared with expectations for a 0.2% gain. Collin Martin, head of fixed income research and strategy at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, described the miss as notable. “The retail sales report came in much softer than expected,” Martin said, though he noted the weakness partly reflected lower gasoline prices and declining auto sales rather than a broader pullback in consumer spending.

Despite the softer data, individual stock stories have continued to draw investor attention within the technology and semiconductor space. Storage and semiconductor makers including Sandisk and Micron Technology rallied in premarket trading Monday. Sandisk in particular has been a standout performer in 2026, having risen roughly sixfold this year on the back of surging memory demand tied to the broader artificial intelligence buildout. JPMorgan recently upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral, setting a $2,250 price target that implies significant additional upside from recent trading levels, citing the company’s positioning within a tightening global memory supply chain.

With no major economic data releases scheduled for Monday itself, according to a market preview from Charles Schwab, investor attention is expected to shift more heavily toward Tuesday’s slate, which includes July housing starts and building permits data, July industrial production figures, and earnings reports from Home Depot, Baidu and Toll Brothers.

The overall market backdrop entering this week reflects a delicate balancing act for investors: continued strength in artificial intelligence-linked technology and semiconductor stocks against a softening consumer picture, elevated oil prices tied to escalating Middle East tensions, and diminishing expectations for near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts. How that combination resolves is likely to depend heavily on the coming week’s retail earnings reports and any signals Federal Reserve officials offer regarding the path of monetary policy during the Jackson Hole symposium, an annual gathering of central bankers and economists that has historically served as a venue for significant policy signaling.

As of Monday morning’s modest gain, the Nasdaq remained close to the record territory it has approached in recent sessions, even as broader market indicators suggest investors remain cautious heading into a week likely to bring more clarity on both the health of American consumers and the Federal Reserve’s next policy steps.

Southeast Asia’s energy demand is surging due to industrialization, digitalization, and population growth, projected to double by 2050. To ensure energy security, affordability, and sustainability amidst fossil fuel reliance, the region is fostering deep cooperation.

Initiatives like the ASEAN Power Grid promote cross-border electricity trading and renewable integration, while a framework explores nuclear energy’s role as a low-carbon complement. This collective approach, emphasizing shared investment and governance, enables scalable, resilient outcomes, showcasing how regional collaboration can drive a pragmatic and sustainable energy transition in the Global South.

• Across Southeast Asia, energy demand is being driven by industrialization, digital expansion and population growth.
• Meeting rapidly growing demand while keeping energy secure, affordable and sustainable will require a more integrated power system.
• Countries in the region have already started to develop and collaborate on projects focussed on grid integration and nuclear energy.

Electricity demand across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is projected to double by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency, fuelled by rapid industrialization, digital expansion and fast-growing cities. But nearly 80% of the region’s energy still comes from fossil fuels, leaving economies exposed to volatile prices, supply disruptions and rising emissions.

Like many parts of the Global South, ASEAN must now work out how to meet this soaring demand while keeping energy affordable, reliable and aligned with net-zero ambitions. The answer lies in cooperation, not competition.

In an era of geopolitical uncertainty and fragmented institutions, ASEAN offers a counter-narrative: that regional cooperation still works. Collective action may take longer to align, but it delivers more scalable, resilient and impactful outcomes than isolated national strategies.

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