Market Movers: Pvt lenders drag, Phoenix Mills jumps; 131 stocks turn overbought

MUMBAI: Financials dragged the benchmark equity indices lower in a choppy session on Wednesday. Nifty formed a small negative candle with lower shadow, which signaled the formation of a hanging man type candle pattern.

While the formation of hanging man after a reasonable up move is considered as a warning signal for reversal of trend post confirmation, however, since this pattern was formed amidst a range-bound movement, the immediate negative implication could be doubtful, analysts said.

While Sensex ended the day with a loss of 37 points at 44,618 and Nifty added 5 points to close at 13,114 points, the broader market outperformed.

BSE mid and small cap indices logged 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent gains, respectively.

Here is a lowdown on what happened in Wednesday’s trade:
Financials drag
Private lenders contributed the most to Sensex’s losses. Sector leader HDFC Bank dropped 1.9 per cent to Rs 1,406.95, while peer Kotak Mahindra Bank shed 3.3 per cent to Rs 1,813.40. Rival ICICI Bank declined 1 per cent to Rs 480.45. Mortgage lender HDFC slipped 1.3 per cent to Rs 2,275.55.

Phoenix Mills surges
The Phoenix Mills jumped nearly 11 per cent to Rs 765.30 after the company said that the listed company and few of its SPVs have signed a non-binding term sheet with GIC Private Equity (PE) for the formation of a retail-led mixed-use platform.

Vakrangee hits upper circuit
Vakrangree rose by 20 per cent to Rs 51.30, and is merely 8.2 per cent away from its 52-week high. The stock has jumped for five straight sessions and is up nearly 63 per cent in the same period. On November 25, the company said its board has approved the withdrawal of amalgamation scheme for its two wholly-owned subsidiaries due to "substantial changes in the business environment".

Promoter action: Axis Bank
The government sold some of Specified Undertaking of The Unit Trust of India’s (SUUTI) stake in private lender Axis Bank last week, data released on BSE showed. SUUTI offloaded 36,25,075 shares of Axis Bank between November 26-27, bringing its stake in the lender down to 4.12 per cent from 4.24 per cent earlier. The stock climbed 0.8 per cent to Rs 608.25.

Stocks at 52-week high
A total of 229 stocks logged fresh 52-week highs on the BSE. These included Adani Enterprises, Adani Gas, Adani Transmission, Adani Ports, Affle (India), Asian Paints, DB Realty, DHFL, Indian Energy Exchange, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and Titan, among others.

Stocks that hit upper circuit
As many as 416 stocks rose by their daily limit on the BSE. These included Vakrangee, Affle (India), DHFL, Himatsingka Seide, Tejas Networks and Ballarpur Industries, among others.

Stocks that turned ‘overbought’
On the back of continuous buying, as many as 131 stocks turned ‘overbought’ as they crossed above the 70-mark on the RSI indicator. These included Indian Hotels, Tejas Networks, Gujarat Gas, JSW Steel, Graphite India, YES Bank, Bharti Infratel, NMDC, and Marksans Pharma.

Where is Nifty headed?
According to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, the short term trend of Nifty continues to be positive with range bound action. “The market is expected to face stiff resistance around 13,150 or slightly higher in the coming sessions. A sustainable move above this area could open some more upside for the market,” said Shetti.

“A lack of strength to sustain around 13, 150 levels is expected to result in another one day sharp drop in the index from the highs. immediate support is now at 12,980,” he added.