New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS): In India, a large number of small caps, particularly the micro caps, are rising, mainly driven by market momentum and many newbie investors are chasing such stocks for quick gains, says V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Many of these stocks don’t have strong fundamentals and investment in these stocks can be very risky, he said.

At this juncture, long-term investors should prefer the safety of high qualitylarge-caps.

The economic data from the US confirms the soft landing narrative that has been driving equity markets globally, he added.

August unemployment in the US has risen to 3.8 per cent and there is a softening trend in average hourly wages. This data suggests that the Fed is likely to hold rates in the September meeting. This is a favourable indication for global equity markets, he said.

Vaishali Parekh, Vice President - Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher, said Nifty once again maintained the crucial and important support zone of 19250-19270 zone for the fourth time in this last one month and witnessed a massive gain closing on a strong note near 19450 zone with sentiment once again turning positive.

A decisive breach above the 19,550 zone shall establish a strong conviction for further upward movement and can anticipate to re-test around the 20,000 landmark once again in the coming days. The support for the day is seen at 19,300 levels while the resistance is seen at 19,600 levels, Parekh said.

BSE Sensex is down 1 point at 65,386 points on Monday morning.

Tata Steel, Ultratech Cement are up more than 3 per cent.

M&M, Asian Paints, Nestle are down more than 1 per cent.