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The Long Desk

The Close · The Open · The Long Desk · Archive · Research
Fri, 28 Aug 2026
1443 companies · 1464 sector slots · 21 sectors · 7 below Rs1000cr and not scanned · long-term lens

Trend Spotlight

Nifty IT surged 3.5% -- its sharpest single-day gain in months -- as Nvidia's Q2 results eased fears over global AI infrastructure spending.

TCS, HCLTech, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra all rallied as Nvidia's strong results and upbeat outlook renewed confidence that global AI capex remains robust, lifting Nifty IT to 31,281.70. It is a genuine sentiment positive, but a global read-through rather than an India-specific fundamental shift -- it does not resolve the sector's own open claim that large-caps have merely maintained, not raised, FY27 guidance despite strong bookings, and HCLTech's own Q1 results this quarter held guidance flat.

Day ahead

GIFT Nifty points to a weak open as a hawkish Fed and renewed US-Iran tensions weigh on global risk appetite.

GIFT Nifty September futures were down 51 points and US futures pointed lower after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's hawkish Jackson Hole remarks lifted September rate-hike odds to roughly 57% and pushed Treasury yields higher. Crude stays elevated on the US's ongoing Strait of Hormuz blockade, keeping pressure on the rupee (~95.7/USD). Domestically, the RBI held the repo rate at 5.25% for a fourth straight meeting and raised its FY27 GDP growth forecast to 6.7%, while FPI flows have turned net positive for a second straight month (Rs 18,790 crore bought in August through the 28th).

Arrived overnight

Fii/dii cash flows and the official index p/e published after The Close went out, and are included below. The evening report names what it is still waiting for, so nothing appears without having been declared missing first.

Calls this session

A change to anything but AVOID publishes only after two consecutive sessions say the same thing; AVOID publishes at once.

Sector stance changed (1)

Published this session (53)

new
Mixed signal (avg 3.62/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Good business, bad price today (Value 2/5) — PEG n/a; P/E cheaper than 44% of sector peers (P/E 39.56); EV/EBITDA 40.1, B/M 0.074. Watch for a better entry.
new
Average rating 3.75/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
new
Average rating 4.0/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
new
Good business, bad price today (Value 2/5) — PEG 1.11; P/E cheaper than 20% of sector peers (P/E 25.13); EV/EBITDA 17.1, B/M 0.139. Watch for a better entry.
new
Mixed signal (avg 3.62/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Mixed signal (avg 2.75/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Mixed signal (avg 2.5/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Mixed signal (avg 3.67/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Mixed signal (avg 3.62/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Average rating 4.17/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
new
Average rating 3.86/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.

and 41 more.

Awaiting a second session (30)

→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 3.78/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 3.86/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
→ HOLD if it holds
Mixed signal (avg 3.38/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
→ HOLD if it holds
Mixed signal (avg 2.5/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
→ HOLD if it holds
Mixed signal (avg 3.67/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
→ HOLD if it holds
Mixed signal (avg 3.5/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
→ HOLD if it holds
Mixed signal (avg 3.62/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
→ QUALITY-WAIT if it holds
Good business, bad price today (Value 2/5) — PEG 5.71; P/E cheaper than 40% of sector peers (P/E 45.68); EV/EBITDA 28.5, B/M 0.166. Watch for a better entry.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 3.86/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
→ HOLD if it holds
Mixed signal (avg 3.33/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 3.83/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
→ HOLD if it holds
Mixed signal (avg 3.67/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.

and 18 more.

Reporting today

No tracked name reports today.

Coming up

Source: NSE event calendar, filtered to the 1443 tracked names.

Market Overview

IndexClosePoints ChangeP/EP/B
Nifty 50 24,175.65 ▲ +84.80 ▲ +0.35% 20.44 2.93
Nifty Next 50 74,159.15 ▼ -188.30 ▼ -0.25% 19.60 3.30
Nifty 500 23,528.55 ▲ +46.55 ▲ +0.20% 22.86 3.28
Nifty Bank 57,496.30 ▼ -13.65 ▼ -0.02% 13.60 1.72
NIFTY Midcap 100 64,069.50 ▲ +34.05 ▲ +0.05% 30.88 4.43
▲ 1348 advancing ■ 38 unchanged ▼ 1230 declining of 2616 equities, vs the 2026-08-27 close
Cash market, ₹ crore
FII / FPI net
▼ -5,039.80
bought 13,264 · sold 18,303
DII net
▲ +5,183.93
bought 16,539 · sold 11,355
FII / FPI DII
FII / DII daily net cash flow · ₹ crore · scroll to zoom, drag to pan

Source: NSE ind_close_all_20260828 (levels, index P/E and P/B) and the full-market bhavcopy (breadth).

Index P/E from NSE's official daily index file.

Since We Flagged

The desk's track record — the FIRST call made on each standing name, against its call today. Entry price is the close on the day of that first call, read from the cached bhavcopy for that date. "Unchanged" means the original call still stands.

CompanyFirst flaggedVerdict then Verdict nowAt flagNow Move
Goodluck India LtdGOODLUCK Tue, 18 Aug 2026 BUY HOLD ₹1,330.00 ₹449.90 ▼ -66.2%
PVP Ventures LtdPVP Tue, 18 Aug 2026 AVOID unchanged ₹40.20 ₹65.22 ▲ +62.2%
TD Power Systems LtdTDPOWERSYS Tue, 18 Aug 2026 HOLD unchanged ₹1,586.60 ₹752.70 ▼ -52.6%
Oriental Aromatics LtdOAL Tue, 18 Aug 2026 AVOID unchanged ₹341.95 ₹487.80 ▲ +42.7%
Elitecon International LtdELITECON Tue, 18 Aug 2026 HOLD unchanged ₹17.13 ₹11.20 ▼ -34.6%
Shanthi Gears LtdSHANTIGEAR Tue, 18 Aug 2026 HOLD unchanged ₹388.95 ₹517.75 ▲ +33.1%
Welspun Corp LtdWELCORP Wed, 5 Aug 2026 BUY QUALITY-WAIT ₹1,788.10 ₹2,373.80 ▲ +32.8%
Wonder Electricals LtdWEL Tue, 18 Aug 2026 HOLD unchanged ₹146.24 ₹99.80 ▼ -31.8%
Kennametal India LtdKENNAMET Tue, 18 Aug 2026 HOLD unchanged ₹3,502.20 ₹4,580.30 ▲ +30.8%
Marsons LtdMARSONS Tue, 18 Aug 2026 HOLD QUALITY-WAIT ₹102.31 ₹133.17 ▲ +30.2%
Federal-Mogul Goetze (India) LtdFMGOETZE Tue, 18 Aug 2026 BUY unchanged ₹462.65 ₹602.05 ▲ +30.1%
Omaxe LtdOMAXE Tue, 18 Aug 2026 AVOID unchanged ₹101.93 ₹131.74 ▲ +29.2%

1431 more standing calls with history are not shown — this table is the 12 that have moved most since we flagged them.

Source: data/state.json (call memory) × data/prices/<date>.json.

Top Stories

HCLTech held FY27 guidance flat despite record Q1 bookings and 62% AI revenue growth. Information Technology

HCLTech kept its FY27 constant-currency revenue growth guidance (1.0%-4.0%) and EBIT margin band (17.5%-18.5%) unchanged at Q1 FY27 results, the same range set back in April, even after record bookings and 62% YoY AI revenue growth. Management is being read as cautious that bookings will take time to convert into faster revenue -- consistent with the sector's open claim that no large-cap has raised FY27 guidance this season.

HCLTECH

SAIL leads a broad metal-sector rally on a Q1 profit surge and rising global steel/base-metal prices. Metals & Mining

SAIL's Q1 FY27 net profit jumped 120.8% YoY to Rs 1,644 crore, and the stock led metal-sector gains in late August as steel, copper, aluminium and zinc prices climbed globally, also lifting Hindalco and Welspun Corp. It is a real positive backdrop for a sector that only flips to AVOID on a negative catalyst, though the pending MSPL BUY->HOLD downgrade shows the tailwind is not lifting every name uniformly.

SAIL

RBI holds repo rate at 5.25% for a fourth straight meeting, raises FY27 GDP growth forecast to 6.7%.

The MPC unanimously kept the repo rate unchanged and retained a neutral stance, while raising the FY27 GDP growth forecast to 6.7% (from 6.6%) on resilient domestic demand and exports. FY27 CPI inflation is projected at 5.0%, with a Q3 peak of 5.9%; Governor Sanjay Malhotra attributed June's above-target print to temporary supply-side factors rather than broader price pressure.

PNB and South Indian Bank's Q1 FY27 results extend the small/mid-cap bank asset-quality recovery. Banks

PNB's Q1 FY27 standalone net profit more than tripled YoY to Rs 5,253 crore with gross NPA improving to 2.78%. South Indian Bank's Q1 showed net NPAs below pre-COVID levels, credit costs down to 9bps and slippages at an all-time low of 0.12% of advances, ahead of its October CEO transition. Both continue, rather than newly establish, the sector's Q1 recovery-breadth thesis -- no Q2 data has landed yet to test it.

PNB · SOUTHBANK

Lupin's US price-erosion trough is set to deepen in Q2/Q3 FY27 before an FY28 recovery. Pharmaceuticals

Management guides quarterly US sales of $250-300 million near-term, down from $366 million in Q1 FY27, as Tolvaptan and Mirabegron generic competition intensifies through Q2/Q3 -- worse before better, matching the company's own framing rather than a surprise. Analysts stay constructive on a medium-term recovery from FY28 on upcoming complex-generic and biosimilar launches.

LUPIN

Sector Scorecard

Entry score is 40% cheap-vs-history + 25% quality trend + 20% news catalyst + 15% technicals, for the 4 sectors with a researched catalyst. The other 17 show : no catalyst was researched for them, so their score renormalises over the remaining three inputs rather than assuming a neutral headline. ≥62 accumulate · 45–61 watch · <45 avoid.

SectorStanceEntryCheap QualityTechNews IndexIdx P/EB/W/H/A
Information Technology 75 scanned · 14 researched WATCH 61.1 61.0 78.7 45.6 +0 ▲ +3.51% 20.0 9/11/48/7
Banks 40 scanned · 11 researched AVOID 42.1 22.3 52.3 67.2 +0 ▼ -0.02% 13.6 6/1/27/6
Pharmaceuticals 85 scanned · 7 researched WATCH 45.1 18.9 72.0 63.6 +0 ▲ +0.53% 41.8 14/22/39/10
Automobiles 109 scanned · 5 researched WATCH 46.5 18.4 78.3 68.2 ▼ -0.11% 33.5 35/27/36/11
FMCG 106 scanned · 3 researched WATCH 56.3 50.0 68.3 52.9 ▼ -0.46% 32.5 10/22/58/16
Metals & Mining 82 scanned · 3 researched WATCH 47.8 26.9 68.2 64.5 +0 ▲ +0.75% 16.5 15/13/36/18
Realty 39 scanned · 2 researched WATCH 51.6 50.0 52.0 55.4 ▼ -0.08% 38.6 2/3/14/20
Energy & Power 82 scanned · 2 researched WATCH 53.0 42.4 63.8 63.4 ▼ -0.26% 14.7 13/10/29/30
Financial Services 150 scanned · 5 ranked elsewhere · 1 researched WATCH 50.5 50.0 44.2 62.2 ▲ +0.02% 16.1 14/7/96/33
Healthcare & Hospitals 57 scanned · 16 ranked elsewhere · 1 researched WATCH 46.1 21.8 74.6 63.6 ▲ +0.54% 44.0 12/18/22/5
Hospitality & Tourism 37 scanned · 3 researched ACCUMULATE 62.1 66.0 69.5 39.6 ▼ -1.10% 89.1 8/7/12/10
Chemicals 101 scanned · 1 researched WATCH 57.9 50.0 68.7 61.0 13/16/49/23
Construction & Materials 126 scanned WATCH 59.9 64.5 62.3 43.6 11/13/64/38
Capital Goods 103 scanned · 2 researched WATCH 48.4 24.3 78.1 63.2 13/19/57/14
Textiles & Apparel 48 scanned · 1 researched WATCH 52.5 42.2 62.0 64.0 10/6/18/14
Retail & Consumer 67 scanned WATCH 58.8 50.0 68.4 66.2 5/11/35/16
Packaging & Plastics 34 scanned WATCH 53.4 39.5 65.3 70.7 8/5/13/8
Logistics & Transport 25 scanned AVOID 44.7 21.4 70.0 64.8 8/4/6/7
Telecom & Media 29 scanned WATCH 53.4 50.0 60.3 51.0 6/1/11/11
Commercial Services 29 scanned WATCH 59.1 61.0 52.8 64.8 4/2/11/12
Diversified & Other 40 scanned WATCH 45.4 30.6 59.5 61.0 3/6/17/14

Source: data/verdicts.json × NSE sector index closes.

Stocks to Watch

Split across large/mid/small/micro cap so this list isn't one tier's picks — new calls first, then the highest long-term composites within each. Each shows the figures that selected it — open the desk for the full six-lens panel.

new call this session
P/E in the 13th percentile of its own 3-year range · ROCE 40.0% (up 5.0pt over 5y) · -32.3% off its 52-week high
Composite 73.3 Mkt Cap 464,097 cr · Large P/E 14.9 ROCE 40.0% Piotroski 6/9
new call this session
P/E in the 8th percentile of its own 3-year range · ROCE 14.8% (up 6.8pt over 5y) · Piotroski 7/9
Composite 80.6 Mkt Cap 49,982 cr · Mid P/E 56.07 ROCE 14.8% Piotroski 7/9
new call this session
ROCE 18.8% (up 22.8pt over 5y)
Composite 79.8 Mkt Cap 6,695 cr · Small P/E 25.24 ROCE 18.8% Piotroski 4/9
new call this session
P/E in the 10th percentile of its own 3-year range · -46.7% off its 52-week high
Composite 77.6 Mkt Cap 3,213 cr · Micro P/E 14.02 ROCE 20.6% Piotroski 4/9

How We Evaluate

MetricWhy it is in the frameworkSource
Return on capital, level and trendDurable high ROCE predicts future returns; the trend separates a moat from a good year Novy-Marx 2013 JFE
Gross profitability (GP/assets)As predictive as book-to-market, and less prone to the value trap Novy-Marx 2013 JFE
Piotroski F-scoreA nine-signal accounting checklist that separates real improvers from statistically cheap traps Piotroski 2000 JAR
Cash-flow-to-net-profitAccrual-heavy profit reverts; cash-backed profit persists Sloan 1996 TAR
P/E versus the stock's own historyCheap relative to itself, not to a peer set that may be expensive as a whole Basu 1977 JF
Book-to-marketThe value premium, in its original form Fama–French 1992 JF
EV/EBITDACapital-structure-neutral, so it compares a leveraged firm to an unleveraged one Practitioner standard
Altman Z and interest coverageDistressed firms have delivered lower, not higher, returns — screen them out rather than chase them Altman 1968 JF; Campbell/Hilscher/Szilagyi 2008 JF
52-week-high proximity, 200-DMANearness to the high has predicted continuation — but momentum crashes, so never alone George & Hwang 2004 JF; Daniel & Moskowitz 2016 JFE
Promoter pledgePledged promoter holding is a governance red flag ahead of a forced sale Not currently available from either source — no penalty is applied

Full derivation in METHODOLOGY.md.