After Market: HDFC, JSPL and Voda-Idea have a field day; buy signals in 40 stocks

Better September quarter earnings helped HDFC and Varun Beverages register solid gains on the bourses on Monday. IT bellwether Infosys emerged biggest Sensex gainer, after it said prima facie there was no truth in the whistleblower allegations.

Metal stocks jumped for the second consecutive session led by JSPL, which gained after successfully bidding for a coal mine. Its peer JSW Steel and SAIL also rose.

BSE benchmark Sensex added 137 points, taking the winning streak into a seventh session. It ended at 40,301, making it the highest closing ever. Its NSE counterpart Nifty also inched closer to its lifetime high, ending 54 points higher at 11,945.

"Nifty opened with marginal gains and closed a volatile session at 11,945. In the process, it formed a Doji candle on the daily chart, hinting at indecision among investors. Now good support for the index exists in the 11,900-11,850 zone and a strong hurdle stands near the 12,000 mark. Any decisive break above this level can help it make a strong move," said Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

Here is a lowdown of the movers and shakers of Monday’s session on Dalal Street:

HDFC gains on good Q2 show
HDFC shares gained 2.3 per cent to Rs 2,178 after the company posted a net profit at Rs 3,962 crore, up 61 per cent. The bottomline beat consensus estimate of analysts, who in an ETNOW Poll had projected a net of Rs 3,470 crore.

JSPL gets coal impetus
Shares of Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) rose 11 per cent to Rs 137.25 on BSE after the media reports said it emerged highest bidder for Gare Palma IV/1 Coal mines at Rs 230 per tonne.

Infosys shares jump
Shares of Infosys advanced over 3 per cent after the IT major informed the bourses that it has not received any evidence to corroborate allegations by whistleblower. The stock ended at Rs 709 on BSE.

Varun Beverages gains
Pepsi bottler Varun Beverages gained 1.5 per cent to Rs 629.75 on BSE after it reported a 83 per cent jump in September quarter profit at Rs 81.1 crore.

Vodafone jumps despite downgrade
Shares of Vodafone Idea jumped nearly 5 per cent to Rs 4.51 on BSE even though CRISIL downgraded its rating on non-convertible debentures of Rs 3,500 crore of Vodafone. The action has been taken on the apex court’s AGR ruling and delay in asset monetization viz. stake sale in Indus Towers.

Metal pack shines
Metals shone led by Jindal twins. Jindal Steel and Power surged 8 per cent to Rs 133 and JSW Steel ended up 5 per cent at Rs 249.50 on NSE. Other major contributors in the space were Coal India, up 3.8 per cent and SAIL, up 3.21 per cent. Nifty Metal ended with gains of 2.84 per cent to Rs 72.85.

Broader markets flat
Broader markets underperformed their headline peers. Nifty Midcap index ended with a loss of 0.14 per cent at 16,857 while Nifty Smallcap creeped 0.08 per cent up to 5,794.

Most active stocks
YES Bank was the most active stock on NSE in terms of value. It was followed by Infosys, HDFC, Tata Steel and SBI. YES Bank also topped the charts in terms of volume on NSE. Vodafone Idea, Dish TV, JSPL and SAIL were other top traded stocks during the day.

Over 40 stocks flash ‘buy’ signals
As many as 42 stocks gave ‘buy’ signal as MACD indicator crossed their signal lines. They include Infosys, Tata Power, Varun Bev, Bajaj Finserv, Rallis India and Cholamandalam Finance, among others.