New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS): The dominant trend in the market this year is the huge outperformance of the mid and small caps, says V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

While Nifty is up only 8.82 per cent YTD, Nifty midcap index and Nifty Smallcap index are up 33.38 per cent and 41.66 per cent YTD.

It is important to understand that Nifty is depressed by the poor performance of banks which have the largest weightage in Nifty.

The Nifty Bank index is almost flat this year with measly growth of 0.87 per cent, he said.

Banks are underperforming despite very good results because they are over-owned and sustained FII selling is weighing on bank stocks. Mid and smallcaps are under-owned and retail exuberance is largely driving these stocks. There is no valuation comfort in the broader market but valuations are fair in large caps, he added.

Therefore, the next leg of the rally, driven by institutional money --both foreign and domestic -- will be driven by large caps, he said.

BSE Sensex is up 7 points at 66,027 points on Friday. JSW Steel is up 1 per cent. IT stocks are down, HCL Tech is down 1 per cent, Wipro is down 1 per cent, Tata Motors is down 1 per cent.