Market Movers: Vedanta slumps 20% as delisting fails; 44 stocks give ‘sell’ signal

A rare power outage in Mumbai, finance minister’s announcements to revive festive demand and a mixed listing of Mazagon Dock and UTI AMC turned the day eventful for Dalal Street.

Overall, the benchmark equity indices extended their rally for the eighth day in a row due to robust buying in IT counters. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed around 84 points, or 0.21 per cent, higher at 40,593, while the 50-share Nifty index settled nearly 17 points, or 0.14 per cent, up at 11,930.

Commenting on the impact of financial measures on the market, Arjun Mahajan, Head- Institutional Business at Reliance Securities, said, “Government’s effort to stimulate consumer demand by offering advances and cash voucher schemes looks to be short-term in nature and lacks the commitment to have sustainable growth. This may lead to a kind of destocking-led demand improvement ahead of festivals or fiscal end. However, it may not necessarily result in a sustainable recovery. This may not entice the market.”

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a payment of cash in lieu of LTC (leave travel concession) and Rs 10,000 festival advance to government employees to stimulate consumer demand during the festival season and boost the economy.

She also announced additional capital spending and Rs 12,000 crore, 50-year interest-free loan to states to boost the economy that has been battered by the pandemic and the resulting lockdown.

On the other hand, broader indices BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed 0.48 per cent and 0.40 per cent lower at 14,695 and 14,907, respectively.

Here is a lowdown on what happened in Monday’s trade:

New listings

• Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders: Shares of the PSU firm made a stellar debut at the bourses with shares rallying over 49 per cent from the issue price of Rs 145 per share. However, the scrip closed 20 per cent down at Rs 173 on the BSE against the list price of Rs 216.25.

• UTI AMC: UTI Asset Management Company (AMC) listed with a discount of more than 11 per cent over its issue price of Rs 554 per share. However, the scrip closed 2.78 per cent down at Rs 476.60 against the list price of Rs 490.25.

Tata Power slips
Shares of Tata Power dropped nearly 3 per cent after the company said there was “simultaneous substation tripping” at state-run MSETCL's two facilities, which led to a major power outage in the financial capital Mumbai and surrounding areas. The scrip closed 2.85 per cent lower at Rs 52.90.

Stocks that hit 52-week high
A total of 50 stocks hit 52-week highs on the BSE. These included Ambuja Cements, Apollo Hospitals, Coforge, GTPL Hathway, Hero MotoCorp, Aditya Birla Money and Greenpanel Industries, among others.

Stocks that hit circuit limits
As many as 232 stocks hit the upper circuit on the BSE. These included Noida Toll Bridge Company, Kwality, Sintex and Burnpur Cement, among others. On the other hand, Mazagon Dock, Aarti Drugs and Future Enterprises stood among 268 counters which scaled their lower circuits.

Stocks that flash sell
As many as 44 stocks flashed ‘sell’ signals on NSE, as they slipped below the Signal Line on the MACD indicator. These included Indian Hotels, Sequent Scientific, Godrej Consumer, Fortis Healthcare, Grasim Industries and Tata Motors, among others.

Vedanta nosedives
Shares of Vedanta plunged over 20 per cent after the company's delisting went from almost-a-success to failure on account of a large quantity of unconfirmed orders. The scrip closed at Rs 96.95 against the previous close of Rs 122.10.

Most active stocks
With a total traded quantity of 14.50 crore shares, Vedanta emerged as the most active stock on the NSE in terms of volume. It was followed by Vodafone Idea (10 crore), YES Bank (8.61 crore) and State Bank of India (6.91 crore). On the other hand, Wipro (Rs 1,989 crore), Infosys (Rs 1,647 crore) and Reliance Industries (Rs 1,470 crore) stood among most active in terms of value.

Sectoral update
Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the IT index advanced the most 1.48 per cent. It was followed by TECk (up 0.99 per cent), Healthcare (up 0.46 per cent) and FMCG (up 0.27 per cent). On the other hand, other sectoral indices ended in the red.

Where is Nifty headed?
With the Nifty50 seeing a mild selloff from the critical psychological resistance, our twin momentum oscillators generated a sell signal, according to Mazhar Mohammad of Chartview India. He expects either a sideways session or a dip towards 11,800 now. A slightly bigger correction can be expected if the Nifty50 closes below 11,790 level.