The Close

The Long Desk

The Close · The Open · The Long Desk · Archive · Research
Mon, 24 Aug 2026
2000 companies · 2294 sector slots · 12 sectors · long-term lens

Trend Spotlight computed

Metals & Mining led the market: ▲ +1.59% on Nifty Metal, closing 13,381.45.

No news narrative was written for this session, so this is the largest sector index move rather than a judged catalyst. The desk's stance for this sector is AVOID, which is a valuation-and-quality reading and does not move with one session.

Market Overview

IndexClosePoints ChangeP/EP/B
Nifty 50 24,219.05 ▼ -32.95 ▼ -0.14% 20.47 2.94
Nifty Next 50 74,022.40 ▲ +30.30 ▲ +0.04% 19.57 3.31
Nifty 500 23,511.75 ▼ -18.55 ▼ -0.08% 22.84 3.28
Nifty Bank 57,525.95 ▼ -236.00 ▼ -0.41% 13.61 1.72
NIFTY Midcap 100 63,817.25 ▲ +81.50 ▲ +0.13% 30.76 4.42
▲ 1152 advancing ■ 22 unchanged ▼ 1451 declining of 2625 equities, vs the 2026-08-21 close
Cash market, ₹ crore
FII / FPI net
▲ +1,181.66
bought 12,333 · sold 11,151
DII net
▲ +2,493.41
bought 15,337 · sold 12,844

Source: NSE ind_close_all_20260824 (levels, index P/E and P/B) and the full-market bhavcopy (breadth).

Sector performance

This session's index move, next to the desk's standing stance. The stance is a valuation-and-quality reading over years — it does not move because an index had a good day.

SectorIndexSession Idx P/EStance
Metals & Mining Nifty Metal · 3 researched 13,381.45 ▲ +1.59% 16.3 AVOID
Realty Nifty Realty · 2 researched 917.10 ▲ +0.60% 39.0 WATCH
Energy & Power Nifty Energy · 1 researched 38,335.85 ▲ +0.22% 14.9 ACCUMULATE
Information Technology Nifty IT · 4 researched 30,596.90 ▲ +0.21% 19.5 ACCUMULATE
FMCG Nifty FMCG · 3 researched 47,527.80 ▲ +0.04% 33.0 ACCUMULATE
Healthcare & Hospitals Nifty Healthcare Index · 8 researched 16,418.00 ▼ -0.04% 43.0 WATCH
Pharmaceuticals Nifty Pharma · 7 researched 26,339.30 ▼ -0.08% 40.8 AVOID
Automobiles Nifty Auto · 5 researched 29,101.30 ▼ -0.08% 33.8 AVOID
Hospitality & Tourism Nifty India Tourism · 2 researched 7,993.25 ▼ -0.18% 90.2 WATCH
Financial Services Nifty Financial Services · 1 researched 26,158.50 ▼ -0.39% 16.0 WATCH
Banks Nifty Bank · 11 researched 57,525.95 ▼ -0.41% 13.6 AVOID

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

Movers in the universe

Largest moves among the 1988 tracked names this session, against the 2026-08-21 close.

CompanyCallPrev CloseMove
Advit Jewels Ltd RAMBHAJO HOLD ₹177.41 ₹212.89 ▲ +20.00%
Virat Industries Ltd VIRAT AVOID ₹401.70 ₹482.00 ▲ +19.99%
Marathon Nextgen Realty Ltd MARATHON HOLD ₹352.35 ₹422.80 ▲ +19.99%
Shah Metacorp Ltd SHAH AVOID ₹3.33 ₹3.99 ▲ +19.82%
Shanthi Gears Ltd SHANTIGEAR HOLD ₹464.25 ₹549.00 ▲ +18.26%
DJ Mediaprint & Logistics Ltd DJML HOLD ₹108.64 ₹86.92 ▼ -19.99%
BLS International Services Ltd BLS BUY ₹271.29 ₹241.51 ▼ -10.98%
Rhetan TMT Ltd RHETAN AVOID ₹24.22 ₹21.81 ▼ -9.95%
Ravinder Heights Ltd RVHL BUY ₹43.02 ₹39.92 ▼ -7.21%
Modern Threads (I) Ltd MODTHREAD HOLD ₹58.31 ₹54.21 ▼ -7.03%

Set aside as undetermined: TDPOWERSYS (▼ -49.17%). A move this large over one session is usually a bonus, split or demerger rather than a price change, and a close-only series cannot tell the two apart — so it is neither listed as a mover nor quietly dropped.

Calls this session

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

Published on this close (22)

new
Average rating 2.25/5 across the panel — too many weak lenses to own.
new
Mixed signal (avg 3.67/5 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 3.5/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Mixed signal (avg 3.33/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Good business, bad price today (Value 1/5) — PEG 1.74; P/E cheaper than 38% of sector peers (P/E 27.49); EV/EBITDA 28.2, B/M 0.144. Watch for a better entry.
new
Good business, bad price today (Value 1/5) — PEG n/a; P/E cheaper than 22% of sector peers (P/E 42.92); EV/EBITDA 27.3, B/M 0.101. Watch for a better entry.
new
Mixed signal (avg 3.33/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
new
Good business, bad price today (Value 2/5) — PEG 1.12; P/E cheaper than 37% of sector peers (P/E 28.08); EV/EBITDA 10.1, B/M 0.686. Watch for a better entry.
new
Average rating 2.33/5 across the panel — too many weak lenses to own.
new
Good business, bad price today (Value 2/5) — PEG 4.65; P/E cheaper than 57% of sector peers (P/E 48.31); EV/EBITDA 30.0, B/M 0.204. Watch for a better entry.
new
Average rating 2.33/5 across the panel — too many weak lenses to own.

and 10 more.

Awaiting a second session (24)

→ 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 3.43/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 3.75/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
→ HOLD if it holds
Mixed signal (avg 3.5/5 across available lenses) — no strong edge either way.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 3.75/5 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.
→ QUALITY-WAIT if it holds
Good business, bad price today (Value 2/5) — PEG 2.2; P/E cheaper than 23% of sector peers (P/E 52.83); EV/EBITDA 24.2, B/M 0.12. Watch for a better entry.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 4.33/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 3.83/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 4.5/5 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.
→ BUY if it holds
Average rating 4.17/5 including quality and value — the rare combination.

and 12 more.

Top Stories

No narrative was written for this session. Stories, and the news catalyst input to the sector stances, come from the morning research agent; when it has not run, the stances below renormalise over their three remaining inputs rather than assuming a neutral headline.

Sector Scorecard

Entry score is 40% cheap-vs-history + 25% quality trend + 15% technicals, renormalised over those three — the 20% news catalyst is not counted because no research was written for this session. It is not treated as neutral; it is absent. ≥62 accumulate · 45–61 watch · <45 avoid.

SectorStanceEntryCheap QualityTechNews IndexIdx P/EB/W/H/A
Information Technology 10 scanned · 4 researched ACCUMULATE 68.1 60.6 93.2 46.3 ▲ +0.21% 19.5 2/4/4/0
Banks 40 scanned · 11 researched AVOID 42.0 26.9 52.3 65.0 ▼ -0.41% 13.6 7/1/26/6
Pharmaceuticals 20 scanned · 7 researched AVOID 40.9 9.4 75.2 67.6 ▼ -0.08% 40.8 1/8/10/1
Automobiles 15 scanned · 5 researched AVOID 39.5 7.0 76.0 65.6 ▼ -0.08% 33.8 2/6/5/2
FMCG 15 scanned · 3 researched ACCUMULATE 82.9 91.1 94.7 41.4 ▲ +0.04% 33.0 1/7/7/0
Metals & Mining 15 scanned · 3 researched AVOID 43.3 10.6 77.1 74.2 ▲ +1.59% 16.3 3/4/6/2
Realty 10 scanned · 2 researched WATCH 51.0 36.8 60.4 73.0 ▲ +0.60% 39.0 1/2/3/4
Energy & Power 40 scanned · 1 researched ACCUMULATE 63.4 61.5 69.2 59.1 ▲ +0.22% 14.9 7/4/15/14
Financial Services 94 scanned · 5 ranked elsewhere · 1 researched WATCH 49.1 61.8 23.1 58.5 ▼ -0.39% 16.0 9/1/62/22
Healthcare & Hospitals 20 scanned · 16 ranked elsewhere · 8 researched WATCH 45.2 16.7 77.9 66.6 ▼ -0.04% 43.0 1/7/11/1
Hospitality & Tourism 15 scanned · 2 researched WATCH 59.1 50.3 71.3 62.0 ▼ -0.18% 90.2 4/4/3/4
Diversified & Other 2000 scanned · 273 ranked elsewhere · 41 researched WATCH 55.3 50.0 62.2 58.0 270/239/881/610

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

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.