The tape is hollowing out, not pulling back inside strength. Decliners have beaten advancers in three of the last four sessions, the fast breadth gauge has slipped from 46% to 43% in a single day, and the Stage-2 cohort shed more names to Stage 3 than it gained from Stage 1 over the past five days — net minus 17. This is deterioration, not a dip.
Trajectory: the internals are getting worse, not better
The slow structural gauge — the share of stocks above their 200-day average — dropped sharply from 47% on 21 August to 42% today, a move that normally takes weeks; it happened in three sessions. The fast short-term gauge (above the 20-day average) has oscillated between 44% and 46% without recovering, and today it fell back to 43%. Net new highs, which briefly touched 97 on 24 August, are back to 58. The index is below its own 200-day average and 8.5% off its 52-week high — there is no structural floor being defended here. Treat any single-session bounce with suspicion until the advance-decline line and the fast breadth gauge both string together two or three consecutive improving days.
Leadership: defensive pockets, not a broad advance
Today's sector leadership — Health Care up 0.6%, Utilities up 0.5%, Industrials up 0.4% — is a defensive rotation, not a risk-on signal. Over one month, Consumer Discretionary and Industrials lead, but the Stage-2 cohort is expanding fastest in Consumer Staples and Energy, two sectors that tend to attract flows when confidence is low. Marksans Pharma cleared the screen on the Health Care side; on the Industrials side, Ratnaveer Precision Engineering has held its base for 16 weeks and remains on the radar — but with 56 stocks exiting Stage 2 against only 39 entering it over the past five days, the pool of actionable setups is shrinking, not growing.
| Stock | Sector | Setup | % 1D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Electricals (India) Ltd | Industrials | 10.0 | -0.4% |
| Ratnaveer Precision Engineering Ltd | Industrials | 9.8 | +5.6% |
| Marksans Pharma Ltd | Health Care | 9.8 | -1.5% |
| Avadh Sugar & Energy Ltd | Consumer Staples | 9.6 | -1.1% |
| Mawana Sugars Ltd | Consumer Staples | 9.4 | +0.4% |
| Birla Cable Ltd | Communication Services | 9.4 | +5.0% |
| MMP Industries Ltd | Materials | 9.4 | +0.7% |
| Shivalik Bimetal Controls Ltd | Materials | 9.4 | -0.8% |
| Sector | 1D | 1M | 3M | RS | Stage 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Care | +0.6% | +2.2% | +12.5% | 71 | 49% |
| Utilities | +0.5% | -2.4% | -8.3% | 54 | 21% |
| Industrials | +0.4% | +4.4% | +6.2% | 69 | 33% |
| Real Estate | -0.1% | -0.3% | +14.4% | 55 | 26% |
| Consumer Discretionary | -0.2% | +4.5% | +12.3% | 63 | 37% |
| Information Technology | -0.3% | -1.6% | +3.8% | 46 | 27% |
| Consumer Staples | -0.5% | -2.6% | +0.0% | 46 | 34% |
| Communication Services | -0.6% | +2.1% | +9.6% | 59 | 20% |
| Financials | -0.6% | +0.8% | +5.8% | 59 | 36% |
| Materials | -0.7% | +2.4% | +1.7% | 65 | 36% |
| Energy | -1.0% | +0.1% | -1.0% | 56 | 34% |
Work the same data live: open the full stock screener, watch the live market dashboard, or check the market-timing read. New to the method? Start with the four stages.
Stage2Stocks is an educational stage-analysis screener. These wraps describe what the screen shows across NSE cash equities — they are not investment advice, recommendations, or buy/sell calls. Always do your own research.