Nifty fell 1.64% to close at 23,063, its lowest print and its worst single day in the 30-session window. The index move alone undersells it: only 552 stocks advanced against 1,927 decliners, an advance-decline ratio of 0.29, and the five-day transition count (stocks moving from Stage 1 into Stage 2 minus those slipping from Stage 2 into Stage 3) fell to minus 54, the weakest reading in the entire window. The neutral-to-down regime has now held for seventeen straight sessions.
Breadth is deteriorating under the surface
36% of stocks sit above their 20-day average, down from 48.9% a month ago, and that share has been sliding for three weeks running. The Stage-2 cohort, the advancing group this screener hunts, is down to 30.8% of the universe, having lost nearly four points in the past month. 52-week highs minus lows flipped to minus 66 today, a sharp reversal from the plus-97 reading seen in late August. None of this is a one-day wobble; it is a slow bleed that today's headline number simply made visible.
Energy is the one sector swimming against the tide
Every sector closed lower today, Financials and Communication Services worst hit at over 2% down apiece. But look at the trend beneath the sector table: Energy's Stage-2 share has risen 20.7 points over the past month, way ahead of anything else on the board, and more than half of Energy names now sit in an advancing stage. Oil & Gas Equipment & Services and Exploration & Production are the industries doing the work, both showing strong one-month and three-month returns alongside rising Stage-2 counts. It is a narrow pocket of strength in an otherwise weakening tape, not a reason to chase the sector blindly.
What the setups list is really saying
The highest-scoring trends today, names like Bhageria Industries, Spectrum Electrical and Raymond, are the ones that have already run hardest, not fresh entries. The more interesting list is the early-stage group still near their 50-day average, including Maharashtra Seamless, Strides Pharma Science and Nocil, alongside a cluster of Energy pullback names such as Confidence Petroleum and Gandhar Oil Refinery. In a tape where breadth is this weak and the regime has been stuck in neutral-to-down for seventeen sessions, selectivity matters more than usual. This is a day for watching the internals settle before adding exposure, not for reacting to the screen's daily output.
| Stock | Sector | Setup | % 1D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maharashtra Seamless Ltd | Industrials | 8.3 | +0.8% |
| Strides Pharma Science Ltd | Health Care | 8.2 | -1.7% |
| Nocil Ltd | Materials | 7.8 | -7.2% |
| Venky's (India) Ltd | Consumer Staples | 7.5 | -1.7% |
| Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd | Energy | 7.5 | -0.4% |
| Ratnamani Metals and Tubes Ltd | Industrials | 7.4 | +0.8% |
| SoftTech Engineers Ltd | Information Technology | 7.4 | -1.1% |
| Alembic Ltd | Health Care | 7.3 | +1.1% |
| Sector | 1D | 1M | 3M | RS | Stage 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Information Technology | -0.7% | -6.2% | +2.4% | 43 | 24% |
| Health Care | -0.7% | +2.0% | +9.4% | 73 | 47% |
| Real Estate | -1.0% | -4.0% | +6.8% | 54 | 19% |
| Consumer Staples | -1.1% | -3.6% | -4.5% | 47 | 32% |
| Consumer Discretionary | -1.2% | -3.5% | +5.6% | 59 | 33% |
| Utilities | -1.4% | -3.6% | -9.2% | 57 | 15% |
| Industrials | -1.4% | -2.4% | -1.2% | 65 | 26% |
| Materials | -1.5% | -2.4% | +1.8% | 64 | 37% |
| Energy | -1.7% | -4.5% | -3.4% | 56 | 55% |
| Financials | -2.1% | -4.5% | -4.1% | 57 | 29% |
| Communication Services | -2.8% | -5.3% | +5.1% | 58 | 22% |
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.