Market Movers: Banks zoom; Sun Pharma, Dabur slide after Q4; 22 stocks 'overbought'

NEW DELHI: Short covering ahead of F&O expiry pushed the benchmark indices higher on Wednesday, which otherwise were playing catchup with their global peers.

Benchmark BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty saw the best trading session in a month, adding over 3 per cent each, thanks to heavy buying in banking and financial stocks. IT and metals also rallied as reopening of businesses boosted investor sentiment.

Analysts attributed some volatility in the market to derivatives expiry due on Thursday. Siddhartha Khemka of Motilal Oswal said the market is likely to be positively biased for the next two days.

Here is what happened in Wednesday’s session:

Banks’ best day since April 7
All constituents of the Nifty Bank index closed in the green and the index posted its best day in nearly two months, rising 7.28 per cent, on FII buying. Axis Bank soared over 14 per cent to Rs 389 while ICICI Bank and Bandhan Bank gained over 8 per cent each. RBL Bank and Federal Bank rose more than 7 per cent.

Q4 impact: Dabur, Sun Pharma
Shares of Dabur India, which reported a 14 per cent drop in March quarter profits due to Covid-19, fell 1.04 per cent to Rs 428.75 following the earnings. Drugmaker Sun Pharma, which posted a 37 per cent drop in bottom line due to one-off expenditure, slid 1.85 per cent to Rs 450.55. Both companies missed Street earnings estimates.

Insider trading: Apollo Tyres; Aarti Drugs
PTL Enterprises, promoters of Apollo Tyres, acquired 15,000 shares from the open market. The stock added 2.60 per cent to Rs 94.80 on the news. On the other hand, five promoters of Aarti Drugs sold 17,000 shares of the company, following which the share price fell 0.36 per cent to Rs 881.05.

Agri-chem firms @ 52-week highs
Shares of some of the agri-chemical companies rose to their 52-week highs during the session. Alkyl Amines Chemicals, Bayer Cropscience, Coromandel International and Dhanuka Agritech were among the 35 stocks that kissed their year highs.

Stocks that hit 52-week lows
Bucking the marketwide trend, some 80 stocks slumped to their 52-week lows during the session. They included AU Small Finance Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Chennai Petroleum, IIFL Securities, Sunteck Realty and Shriram City Union Finance, among others.

Stocks that gave buy signals
Prices of over 100 stocks on BSE crossed above the signal line as the MACD indicator gave a ‘buy’ signal. They included SBI, SAIL, Axis Bank, PNB, UPL, MMTC, BPCL, NIIT and Marksans Pharma, among others.

Stocks that turned ‘overbought’
Over 20 stocks turned ‘overbought’ according to the RSI indicator, as they crossed above the 70 mark thanks to the relentless buying in last few days. They included Birla Corporation, JK Lakshmi Cement, Kaveri Seed Company, MCX, and Jindal Poly Films, among others.

Where is Nifty headed?
The market has been consolidating in last few sessions. Trend support for Nifty50 is seen at 8,800; while broader market remains strong above the same, said an analyst. “On the higher side, the initial target is seen at 9,500, above which further upside up to 10,000 remains possible. Open interest concentration is seen at 9,000 Put and 10,000 Call for June series. Open interest addition is seen in Banking and IT stocks. Expect them to trade with a positive bias,” said Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research- Derivatives at Kotak Securities.