After Market: Metal pack melts, 37 stocks in oversold zone

NEW DELHI: Losses in metal, bank and auto heavyweights amid weak global cues made domestic equity benchmarks snap five-session winning streak on Tuesday.

The market traded in the negative zone throughout the day, as gloom in global markets extended to the domestic bourses.

Emerging stocks and currencies slid, as fears of slowing global growth spooked investors and made them move towards safe haven assets.

Optimism stemming from third quarter earnings faded and market reacted to the global sentiment due to the absence of fresh decisive triggers back home.

Sensex closed with a cut of 134 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 36,444.64, while Nifty settled 39 points, or 0.36 per cent, lower at 10,922.75.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell 0.09 per cent and 0.49 per cent, respectively.

We walk you through the highlights of Tuesday's session:

Who dragged my Sensex
HDFC twins, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Larsen & Toubro emerged as the top drag on Sensex. However, the pack of losers was led by Vedanta, down 3.50 per cent. It was followed by Tata Steel (down 3.13 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 3.08 per cent), HCl Tech (down 2.18 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (down 2 per cent).

Metals melt
The BSE Metal pack suffered a loss of 2.31 per cent, emerging as the top sectoral loser, on fall in shares of Jindal Steel (down 4.53 per cent), Vedanta (down 3.50 per cent), Tata Steel (down 3.13 per cent), Hindustan Zinc (down 2.76 per cent), JSW Steel (down 2.46 per cent), SAIL (down 2.23 per cent) and Hindalco (down 1.88 per cent). As per Reuters, base metals prices dropped across global markets with benchmark London copper extending a sharp drop from the previous session, after economic growth in top metals consumer China slowed to its weakest in 28 years.

Sun shines again
Notching up gains for a second straight day, India’s largest drug maker Sun Pharma closed 4.95 per cent up at Rs 418.05 after the company clarified that it neither gave any loan nor guarantees to Suraksha Realty.

A dull Q3 show
Asian Paints on Tuesday posted 14.60 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated profit at Rs 635.60 crore for the quarter ended December 31. Consolidated revenue of the company increased 24 per cent to Rs 5,293.99 crore in Q3FY19 over Rs 4,267.49 crore in Q3FY18. But the numbers failed to excite the market as the stock closed the day with a loss of 0.99 per cent at Rs 1,406.55 on the BSE.

In fast lane
Shares of TVS Motor closed 2.94 per cent up at Rs 553.85 after it reported a 15.57 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 178.39 crore for the third quarter. Revenue from operations was at Rs 4,663.98 crore, up 26.09 per cent against Rs 3,698.67 crore on a yearly basis.

A volatile ride
After surging almost 20 per cent in early trade, shares of Prabhat Dairy nosedived and closed the session with a loss of 14.29 per cent at Rs 79.75 on the BSE. The stock came off even as its Rs 1,700-crore stake sale deal was much bigger in value than the company’s total market capitalisation of around Rs 900 crore.

Ashok Leyland declines
Shares of Ashok Leyland closed 2.92 per cent down at Rs 88 after global brokerage firm CLSA maintained ‘Sell’ rating on the stock and also cut the target price to Rs 75 (Rs 85 earlier). India’s truck industry is currently in the fifth year of an up-cycle where historical upturns in the last four decades have lasted four years on average, said CLSA. The foreign brokerage expects competition to intensify in a downturn given Ashok’s improved ability to fight against Tata and the latter’s high focus on regaining its lost market share.

Kotak firms up post Q3 nos
Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank closed 1.92 per cent higher at Rs 1,291.60 as leading brokerages maintained their bullish stance on Kotak Mahindra Bank after the lender posted a 23 per cent rise in profit at Rs 1,291 crore for December quarter on higher net interest income.

Shining bright
Shares of Havells India jumped 4.95 per cent to Rs 711.40 even as the company reported a nominal rise of 0.67 per cent in standalone profit at Rs 195.67 crore. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 194.36 crore during the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal. Total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 2,551.4 crore as against Rs 1,993.53 crore in the year-ago period.

151 stocks signal potential fall
Momentum indicator moving average convergence divergence, or MACD, showed bearish crossovers on 151 counters on the BSE, indicating that these stocks may drop or extend their fall in coming sessions. Among the stocks with bearish crossovers were Prabhat Dairy, Praj Industries, Hindalco, ONGC, HDFC, 8K Miles Software and Grasim Industries.

On the other hand, 46 stocks, including TVS Motor, Havells India, Petronet LNG, Dabur India and Shalimar Paints, showed bullish crossovers on BSE.

Oversold and overbought stocks
Momentum oscillator Relative Strength Index, or RSI, showed 37 stocks in the oversold zone on the BSE. Shares of Vivimed Labs, Arvind, Sadhana Nitro, Sandhar Technologies and Ashari Agencies entered into oversold territory.

However, 42 stocks, including Majestic Auto, Kajaria Ceramics, Apollo TriCoat Tubes, Seamec and Cybele Industries entered the overbought zone.