The index has strung together four up sessions and gained 0.35% today, but that is the only part of the tape improving. The Stage-2 share of the universe fell to 31.4% today, the lowest reading in 30 sessions, down more than seven points in the last month. Golden crosses have also dropped to just four, the fewest in the window. The bounce in price and the erosion underneath it are moving in opposite directions, and that gap is the story today, not the green candle.
A rally with fewer participants each day
The market has been labelled neutral-to-down for fourteen straight sessions now, and nothing about today changes that label even with the gain. Advance-decline swung positive three sessions ago at a ratio near 1.9, then flipped straight back to under 0.9 today. Net Stage-2 to Stage-3 transitions over the last five sessions are running at minus 36, extending an 18-session negative streak. Fewer stocks are being promoted into advancing trends than are rolling over out of them, even as the index climbs off its September lows. Fifty-two-week highs minus lows is still negative for a seventh straight session, though the gap has narrowed sharply from minus 201 a few sessions back to minus 23 today. That is the one internal actually healing. Everything else describing trend quality is not.
Energy is the one sector building, not fading
Energy sits at the top of the sector table for setup momentum: 55% of the sector is in Stage 2, and that share has risen nineteen points in the past month, the widest 20-day gain on the sector board. Underneath it, oil-and-gas equipment and services names and exploration-and-production names show the same story at the industry level, both with double-digit gains in their Stage-2 share this month. Real Estate and Health Care led on price today but both are losing Stage-2 share over the same month, so the move there looks more like a bounce than a trend repair. Utilities and Financials are the weak spots, both bleeding double-digit points in Stage-2 share over twenty sessions, with Utilities down to just 14.5% of its stocks in an advancing trend.
Where the screen is pointing today
Among names still early in their move and trading close to their 50-day average, Alembic, Hindustan Oil Exploration and Asian Hotels (North) carry the highest setup scores, alongside Hatsun Agro, Anuh Pharma, Maharashtra Seamless, Ratnamani Metals and Wockhardt. The energy tilt among early setups lines up with what the sector data shows. On the other end, names such as Oriental Aromatics, Raymond, Kopran and Bhageria Industries carry the highest setup scores on the board, but they represent trends that have already run hard, not fresh entries; treat that list as a read on sector leadership, not a shopping list. With the Stage-2 cohort shrinking and breadth still net negative on transitions, selectivity matters more than usual here, and chasing strength without checking the internals first is the surest way to get caught on the wrong side of this bounce.
| Stock | Sector | Setup | % 1D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alembic Ltd | Health Care | 8.3 | +0.9% |
| Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd | Energy | 8.3 | -2.0% |
| Asian Hotels (North) Ltd | Consumer Discretionary | 8.3 | +0.0% |
| Hatsun Agro Product Ltd | Consumer Staples | 8.0 | -0.9% |
| Anuh Pharma Ltd | Health Care | 8.0 | +0.1% |
| Maharashtra Seamless Ltd | Industrials | 7.9 | -1.7% |
| Ratnamani Metals and Tubes Ltd | Industrials | 7.8 | -2.8% |
| Wockhardt Ltd | Health Care | 7.8 | +4.8% |
| Sector | 1D | 1M | 3M | RS | Stage 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | +1.2% | -2.6% | -2.7% | 57 | 55% |
| Real Estate | +1.2% | -3.8% | +6.2% | 55 | 24% |
| Health Care | +1.0% | +2.9% | +10.3% | 72 | 47% |
| Consumer Staples | +0.8% | -3.3% | -4.5% | 46 | 34% |
| Information Technology | +0.4% | -4.6% | +2.8% | 44 | 23% |
| Materials | +0.1% | -1.6% | -0.8% | 64 | 36% |
| Consumer Discretionary | +0.0% | -3.0% | +5.9% | 60 | 34% |
| Industrials | -0.2% | -1.5% | -1.5% | 67 | 26% |
| Financials | -0.2% | -2.5% | -2.7% | 58 | 29% |
| Utilities | -0.5% | -2.0% | -10.4% | 57 | 15% |
| Communication Services | -1.2% | -1.8% | +4.4% | 60 | 24% |
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.