Market Movers: SpiceJet, SBI rally up to 13%; Nifty PSU Bank settles above 200-DMA

Investors of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) took a hit on Wednesday after the government on Tuesday placed the lender under a one-month moratorium and superseded its board. SpiceJet rewarded investors handsomely as HSBC upgraded the aviation play to ‘buy’ from ‘reduce’. Overall, intense buying in L&T, ICICI Bank, M&M and SBI took the benchmark indices higher for the fourth straight session.

BSE Sensex closed the session 227 points, or 0.52 per cent, higher at 44,180, while the 50-share Nifty gained 64 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 12,938.

Ajit Mishra, VP-Research at Religare Broking, said the market managed to inch higher amid volatility in continuation of the prevailing uptrend. "The benchmark opened marginally lower on unsupportive global cues amid a spike in coronavirus cases. The mood remained sombre in the first half but the tone turned bullish in the second half led by healthy buying in select heavyweights," he said.

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

LVB shares tank 20%
The government on Tuesday placed LVB under a one-month moratorium, superseded its board and capped withdrawals at Rs 25,000 per depositor. Reacting on the development, shares of the lender closed 20 per cent down at Rs 12.40.

SpiceJet flies high
Shares of SpiceJet climbed over 13 per cent after HSBC upgraded the aviation player to 'buy' and also raised its target price sharply to Rs 80 from Rs 26.50 as survival risk abated and second quarter result came in better than expected. The brokerage said SpiceJet's shares have suffered mainly due to questions around its survival but now that risk is coming down as the return of Boeing 737 Max gets closer. The scrip ended 13.20 per cent higher at Rs 66.90.

Larsen & Toubro rallies
Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) gained nearly 5 per cent to Rs 1,145 after the company’s construction and mining equipment business secured its biggest-ever order to supply 46 units of Komatsu Mining Equipment from Tata Steel, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Nifty PSU Bank above 200-DMA
The NSE Nifty PSU index closed above its 200-day moving average (DMA) for the first time since July 2019, indicating that the index is gaining momentum. The index closed 3.57 per cent higher at 1500.80 with SBI gaining the most at 5.12 per cent. Bank of Baroda, Union Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and Canara Bank gained between 1 per cent and 5.50 per cent.

Promoter action: Ultramarine & Pigments and Chembond Chemicals
Promoter Sridhar Sundarajan, S Narayan and Jayalakshmi Venkataraman of Ultramarine & Pigments together sold a total of 6,588 shares on November 17. Shares of the company closed 0.44 per cent higher at Rs 227.75.
Promoter group including Rahil N Shah, Kshitija N Shah, Padma V Shah, Nirmal V Shah, Raunaq V Shah, Sameer V Shah, Mamta N Shah and Pama V Shah together purchased 20,644 shares of Chembond Chemicals on November 13 and November 14. Shares of the company closed 0.13 per cent down at Rs 157.95.

Stocks that hit 52-week highs
Some 82 stocks scaled 52-week highs on NSE. They included Aarti Surfactants, Action Construction Equipment, Adani Ports, Adani Green, Ashok Leyland, Chambal Fertilizers, Bofil Chemicals, Everest Kanto, Eicher Motors and Capri Global Capital, among others.

Stocks that hit upper circuits
Some 341 stocks rose by their daily limits on BSE. These included GE Power India, GE T&D India, Hathway Cable and Datacom, Edelweiss Financial Services and Dewan Housing Finance, among others.

Most active stocks
With a total traded quantity of 23.48 crore shares, Vodafone Idea emerged as the most active stock on the NSE in terms of volume. It was followed by YES Bank (20.70 crore), Tata Motors (17.18 crore) and State Bank of India (10.45 crore). On the other hand, Bajaj Finance (Rs 3,463 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 2,885 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 2,778 crore) and SBI (Rs 2,576 crore) stood among most active in terms of value.

Stocks that gave ‘buy’ signals
About 34 stocks on NSE crossed above the signal line of MACD indicator, flashing ‘buy’ signals. They included Welspun Corp, Godrej Properties, Maruti Suzuki, Granules India, Sobha, Shanthi Gears, Harrisons Malaya, Sobha and JBM Auto, among others.

Where is Nifty headed?
Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said the overall structure shows that the bulls are maintaining the dominant position and that is leading to an extension on the upside. "Going ahead, the 13,000 level is the key psychological hurdle with the potential to stretch to 13,350, which is the short term target. The near term support zone, on the other hand, shifts higher to 12,800-12,820,” he said.