Market Movers: Metals shine; autos on a high; 50 stocks turn ‘overbought’

NEW DELHI: ...and thus continued the battle between the bulls and the bears.

After a session going to each, the third one proved to be a tie, and the benchmark indices closed mixed. The directionless nature of the market showed indecisiveness of market participants after a stupendous rally in recent months.

The 30-share Sensex closed just 25 points down, but plunged nearly 500 points from the day's high. Broader Nifty advanced 6 points to close above the 11,100 mark. Broader market indices, especially the smallcap one, outperformed and closed with solid gains.

Analysts said positive earnings and liquidity are driving markets, but the future direction looks unclear. “In the near term, the market will look forward to the commentary and RBI actions at the end of the MPC’s rate-setting huddle tomorrow,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Here is a lowdown on what happened in Wednesday's session:
Smallcap Index gains for 4th day
Nifty Smallcap Index closed in the green for the fourth straight day. It was lifted by Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company, Gujarat Alkali, Aegis Chemical, Dileep Buildcon and Sonata Software which rose 6-7 per cent.

Metal stocks gain most in 2 months
Nifty Metal Index saw the best gains in two months as some companies reported sharp jump in July sales. The index added 3.97 per cent, riding on up to 9 per cent gains in Hindalco, Tata Steel, SAIL, Hindustan Zinc and Nalco.

Autos accelerate
Riding on improved July sales, auto stocks continued to be in demand and advanced 1.84 per cent. Eicher Motors, Tata Motors, TVS Motor, M&M and Maruti Suzuki were the biggest drivers, rising 2-5 per cent.

Insider trade: Mindtree, ABFRL
As Mindtree hovered at 52-week highs, minority promoters continued to offload shares. They dumped over 4 lakh shares, but the scrip closed 1.29 per cent higher at Rs 1,140. Promoters of AB Fashion and Retail acquired large swathe of shares by way of public right, taking the stock 1.11 per cent higher to Rs 123.50.

Stocks at 52-week highs
An increasing number of stocks on BSE are hitting 52-week high levels. On Wednesday, the number was 152. They included Balkrishna Industries, Cadila Healthcare, EID Perry, MCX, Tata Communication, PI Industries, Vaibhav Global, Info Edge and Tata Consumer, among others,

Stocks that hit upper circuits
Over 400 stocks listed on BSE hit the upper circuit set by the exchange, most of them smallcaps. They included Varroc Engineering, KPIT Technologies, Dish TV and Hathway Cable Datacom, among others.

Stocks that turned ‘overbought’
More than 50 stocks turned ‘overbought’ during the day as they crossed above the 70-level on RSI indicator. They included Tata Steel, Vedanta, Strides Pharma, Tata Steel BSL, PTC India, Jyothy Labs, Sunteck Realty and Titan, among others.

Where is Nifty headed?
Nifty witnessed a choppy session and the volatility can only increase in the coming sessions. The pullback that started on August 4 got stretched beyond the 61.8% retracement of the previous fall. “Nifty dipped into the negative territory and ultimately posted a marginal positive close. Structurally, the next downward move looks around the corner, which will push Nifty below the swing low of 10,882. On the other hand, today's high of 11,225 will act as a key resistance,” said Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.