Technical Analysis of Banking Sector in India

 

K. Raj Kumar*

Academic Consultant, University College, Palamuru University, Mahabubnagar.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: rajunsc@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Banking Sector in India is one of the growing sectors with great dynamics. There are various factors which affect the share prices of Banking Companies. It is very difficult quantify the impact of various factors on these companies. Technical analysis is the study of the market action, primarily through the use of charts, for the purpose of forecasting future price trends. It assumes that the market is efficient and the price has already taken into consideration along with the factors related to the company and the industry.

The study made to know the trends and trend reversal pattern and identify the buying and selling points based on banking sector market price movements.  The study is based on secondary data from 2008 to 2010. The statistical tools like Simple moving average, Moving Average Convergence and Divergence, Relative strength Index and Rate of change method are used.

It is found that share prices of the entire banks shown decreasing trend in the year 2008 and later there is an Increasing trend in the share prices. The Moving average convergence and divergence clearly indicated the buy and sell signals at various levels.  When Relative strength index values are decreasing or increasing to peak level it generates buy and sell signals. The resulted ROC value indicates Oversold and Overbought regions it generates Buy and Sell signals. It concluded that technical analysis is an effective tool for the investors to invest in short term.

 

 


INTRODUCTION:

Banking industry is said to be the mirror of an economy’s health. A sound banking system serves as a significant trade enabler to the country. During the recent global crisis, Indian banking industry came out with flying colors on the back of stringent stipulations laid down by the Central Bank.

Technical analysis is the study of the market action, primarily through the use of charts, for the purpose of forecasting future price trends. It is a method of evaluating securities by analyzing the statistics generated by the market activity, such as past prices and volume. It mainly seeks to predict the short term price levels. It is an important criteria for an individual to invest in a particular company. It also provides the base for decision-making in investment. It is one of the most frequently used yardstick to check and analyze underlying price progress. For that matter a variety of tools was considered.  

 

This refers to the study of market generated data like prices and volume to determine the future direction of prices movements.

 

Technical analysis involves the use of various methods for charting, calculating, interpreting graph and chart to assess the performances and status of the price. It is the tool of financial analysis, which not only studies but also reflects the numerical and graphical relationship between the important financial factors.

 

In fact, the decision made on the basis of technical analysis is done only after inferring the market trends and judging the future movement of the stock on the basis of the market trend. It assumes that the market is efficient and the price has already taken into consideration along with the factors related to the company and the industry. It is because of this assumption that many financial experts considers technical analysis is an efficient tool, which is effective for the short-term investment.

 

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Brown and Jennings (1989)1 showed that technical analysis has value in a model in which prices are not fully revealing and traders have rational conjectures about the relation between prices and signals.

 

Neftci (1991)2 showed that a few of the rules used in technical analysis generate well-defined techniques of forecasting, but even well-defined rules were shown to be useless in prediction if the economic time series is Gaussian. However, if the processes under consideration are non-linear, then the rules might capture some information. Tests showed that this may indeed be the case for the moving average rule.

 

Taylor and Allen (1992)3 report the results of a survey among chief foreign exchange dealers based in London in November 1988 and found that at least 90 per cent of respondents placed some weight on technical analysis, and that there was a skew towards using technical, rather than fundamental, analysis at shorter time horizons.

 

Brock, Lakonishok and LeBaron (1992)4 analysed 26 technical trading rules using 90 years of daily stock prices from the Dow Jones Industrial Average up to 1987 and found that they all outperformed the market.

 

Blume, Easley and O’Hara (1994)5 show that volume provides information on information quality that cannot be deduced from the price. They also show that traders who use information contained in market statistics do better than traders who do not.

 

Lui and Mole (1998)6 report the results of a questionnaire survey conducted in February 1995 on the use by foreign exchange dealers in Hong Kong of fundamental and technical analyses. They found that over 85% of respondents rely on both methods and, again, technical analysis was more popular at shorter time horizons.

 

Neely (1998)7 reconciles the fact that using technical trading rules to trade against US intervention in foreign exchange markets can be profitable, yet, long term, the intervention tends to be profitable.

 

LeBaron (1999)8 shows that, when using technical analysis in the foreign exchange market, after removing periods in which the Federal Reserve is active, exchange rate predictability is dramatically reduced.

 

Lo, Mamaysky andWang (2000)9 examines the effectiveness of technical analysis on US stocks from 1962 to 1996 and finds that over the 31-year sample period, several technical indicators do provide incremental information and may have some practical value.

 

Fern´andez-Rodr´ıguez, Gonz´alez-Martel and Sosvilla-Rivero (2000)10 apply an artificial neural network to the Madrid Stock Market and find that, in the absence of trading costs, the technical trading rule is always superior to a buy-and-hold strategy for both ‘bear’ market and ‘stable’ market episodes, but not in a ‘bull’ market. One criticism I have is that beating the market in the absence of costs seems of little significance unless one is interested in finding a signal which will later be incorporated into a full system. Secondly, it is perhaps naïve to work on the premise that ‘bull’ and ‘bear’ markets exist.

 

Lee and Swaminathan (2000)11 demonstrate the importance of past trading volume. Neely and Weller (2001) use genetic programming to show that technical trading rules can be profitable during US foreign exchange intervention.

 

Cesari and Cremonini (2003)12 make an extensive simulation comparison of popular dynamic strategies of asset allocation and find that technical analysis only performs well in Pacific markets.

 

Kavajecz and Odders-White (2004)13 show that support and resistance levels coincide with peaks in depth on the limit order book and moving average forecasts reveal information about the relative position of depth.

 

The above review of literature it points out that they focused on effectiveness of technical analysis of stocks in various countries. The domestic stock markets are in a sideway movement over the last couple of weeks. The current volatility in the stock markets can be attributed to negative sentiments due to a fall in global markets, profit booking by foreign institutional investors (FII), uncertainty over the US sub-prime crisis and high crude oil prices. It is very difficult to quantify the impact of these factors on various sectors. The investors made better returns by identifying and investing in the right sectors, based on market conditions. Most of the traders will focus on using technical indicators to find and place their trades.

 

Therefore, it is important for investors to look for the sectoral trends in the market in order to get good returns on their investments.

 

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

The last decade has seen many positive developments in the banking sector, with the opening up of the sector in early Nineties by the government. The industry has received a significant boost by the emergence of the private sector banks which increased competitiveness and enhanced the level of banking facilities to a top notch level. However, during the recent global recession, even the lagging public sector banks have made a big come back on the back of large up gradations to suit the hi-tech services provided by the private sector and foreign banks.

 

For a sustained economic growth for the country, unmatched banking and financial services is a must in order to facilitate the increasing need of swift and hassle-free transactions. Banking sector is an enabler to the economic growth. In this context, there is a need to study the past or historical price and volume movements of banking stocks to predict the future stock price behavior.

 

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

·        To know the trends and trend reversal pattern in     banking sector stock prices.

·        To identify the buying and selling points based on banking sector market price movements.

 

SOURCES OF THE DATA:

The study mainly based on both the primary data and secondary data. The primary data collected through personal interviews with the investors, brokers and executive directors of brokerage firms. The secondary is collected from magazines, journals, newspapers and websites.

 

PERIOD OF THE STUDY:

The study covers a period of 3 years from January-2008 to December-2010.

 

Sample size:

The banking index has grown at a compounded annual rate of over 51 percent since April 2001 as compared to a 27 per cent growth in the market index for the same period. The BSE bank index consists of 18 banks, out of which 4 banks are selected based on their market capitalization which constitutes State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI, HDFC and Axis Bank.

 

Statistical Techniques:

The data analyzed with the help of statistical tools like Simple moving average, Moving Average Convergence and Divergence, Relative strength Index and Rate of change method.

 

DATA ANALYSIS:

State Bank of India:

Most chart patterns show a lot of variation in price movement. This can make it difficult for traders to get an idea of a security's overall trend. Once the day-to-day fluctuations are removed, traders are better able to identify the true trend and increase the probability that it will work in their favor. The below graph reveals the movement of stock price using various technical tools (Graph-1).

 

Simple Moving Average (SMA):

A moving average is the average price of a security over a set amount of time. By plotting a security's average price, the price movement is smoothed out. It simply takes the sum of all of the past closing prices over the time period and divides the result by the number of prices used in the calculation. For example, in a 10-day moving average, the last 10 closing prices are added together and then divided by 10.

 

It is identified that there is downward trend and wide fluctuations took place in stock price movement in the beginning of the year 2008, later there was upward trend in stock price movement.

 

Moving Average Convergence and Divergence (MACD):

A moving average represents the underlying trend in the share price movement. It can be used to quickly identify whether a security is moving in an uptrend or a downtrend depending on the direction of the moving average.

 

The scrip price is rising, the short term average would be above the long term average. The short term average intersects the long term average from below indicating a further rise in price, gives a buy signal. When the scrip price is falling and if the short term average intersects the long term moving average form above and falls below it, the sell signal is generated.

 

Relative Strength Index (RSI):

RSI helps to signal overbought and oversold conditions in a security. The indicator is plotted in a range between zero and 100. A reading above 70 is used to suggest that a security is overbought, while a reading below 30 is used to suggest that it is oversold. This indicator helps traders to identify whether a security’s price has been unreasonably pushed to current levels and whether a reversal may be on the way.

 


 

 

Graph-1- State Bank of India

 

 


When the RSI falls below thirty it is time to pick up the scrip. It found that share prices falling and RSI is rising in the oversold zone, it would indicate that share prices will increase in future so buy the stock. When RSI is more than seventy indicates that Share price in overbought zone, it would indicate the downfall of the price in future so sell the stock.

 

Rate of Change (ROC):

Rate of change (ROC) are simple technical analysis indicators showing the difference between today's closing price and the close N days ago. It helps to find out the overbought and oversold positions in a scrip and useful to identify the trend reversal.

 

It found that at end of the year 2008, ROC values are in negative zone. It indicates that oversold so buy the stock. The values are moving upward movement and reached to overbought zone it indicates sell the stock.

 

ICICI Bank: (Graph-2)

Simple Moving Average (SMA):

It observed that there was increasing trend in the year 2008, later there was fluctuations in share price and decreased to certain level and started upward trend in the share price.

 

Moving Average Convergence and Divergence (MACD):

It found the short term moving average below the long term moving average curves means there is fall in share price which indicates to sell the stock. When the short term moving average above the long term moving average indicates an increasing share price so buy the stock.

 

 

Relative Strength Index (RSI):

When the RSI values are less than thirty it is better to buy the stock, if the RSI values are more than seventy indicates that to sell the stock.

 

Rate of Change (ROC):

ROC values are in negative zone, which indicates that oversold so buy the stock. When the values are positive it means shares are in overbought zone it indicates sell the stock.

 

HDFC Bank: (Graph-3)

Simple Moving Average (SMA):

The share prices are downtrend and wide fluctuations in share movement but in the long run the share prices are in increasing trend.

 

Moving Average Convergence and Divergence (MACD):

The share short term moving average curve crossed the long term moving average curve it indicates to buy the stock. When the short term moving average curve below the long term moving average curve it indicates to sell the stock.

 

Relative Strength Index (RSI):

The RSI values are less than thirty, it indicates the share prices will increases in future so buy the stock. When the RSI values are more than seventy the stock is in overbought zone, so it is better to sell the stock.

 

Rate of Change (ROC):

It shows that when ROC values are negative it is in oversold zone, it indicates to Buy the stock. If the values are positive indicates overbought region, it gives to Sell the stock.


Graph-2- ICICI Bank

 

Graph-3- HDFC Bank

 


Graph-4- AXIS Bank\

 


 

AXIS Bank: (Graph-4)

Simple Moving Average (SMA):

It found that there is downward trend and wide fluctuations took place in stock price movement in the beginning of the year 2008, later there was upward trend in stock price movement.

 

Moving Average Convergence and Divergence (MACD):

The short term average intersects the long term average from below indicating a further rise in price, gives a buy signal. When the scrip price is falling and if the short term average intersects the long term moving average form above and falls below it, the sell signal is generated.

 

Relative Strength Index (RSI):

The RSI values are rising in the overbought zone, it would indicate the downfall of the share price. It gives a clear signal of Sell. When the RSI is in the oversold region, it generates the Buy signal.

 

Rate of Change (ROC):

It shows that ROC values oscillate across the Zero line. The ROC line is below the zero line the price is falling indicates oversold region, it gives a buy signal. When the ROC line is above the zero line price is raising leads to overbought region, it generates the Sell signal.

 

CONCLUSIONS:

The current spot prices of traded assets provide information about future spot prices when market participants are heterogeneously informed. However, spot prices generally are imperfect aggregators of private information. If the current spot price depends on the unobserved current supply of the good as well as on the private information of market participants, then it is not a sufficient statistic for the private information. As a result, historical prices together with the current prices allow more accurate inferences about past and present signals than do current prices alone. Because current spot prices are not fully revealing, past price, that is, technical analysis, provide information to agents forming their demands.

 

 

Using the Simple average model, it found that all banks share prices decreasing trend in the year 2008 and after that there is an Increasing trend in the share prices.  When the share prices are falling Short term moving average curve is intercepting the Long term moving average curve from below, it indicates the buy signal. When the share prices are raising the Short term moving average curve is above the Long term moving average curve it gives the Sell signal.

 

It observed that when the share prices are fall the RSI values are decreasing, it is considered oversold. When price moves up very rapidly, at some point it is considered overbought.  The level of the RSI is a measure of the stock's recent trading strength.

 

When the RSI values are greater than the 70 level are considered to be in overbought territory, and RSI values lower than the 30 level are considered to be in oversold territory. In between the 30 and 70 level is considered neutral, with the 50 level a sign of no trend. When it is over bought it gives Sell signal, if it is over sold region, it generates the buy signal.

 

The ROC values are always may positive, negative or Zero. All the banks ROC values are oscillate across the zero line. The ROC value reaches the historic high values, the scrip is in the overbought region and a fall in the value can be anticipated. If the ROC value reaches historic low value, the scrip is in the oversold region, a rise price can be anticipated. Investor can sell the scrip in the overbought region and buy it in the oversold region.

 

REFERENCES:

1.       BROWN, D. P., and R. H. JENNINGS, 1989. On Technical Analysis. The Review of Financial Studies, 2(4), 527–551.

2.       NEFTCI, Salih N., 1991. Naive Trading Rules in Financial Markets and Wiener-Kolmogorov Prediction Theory: A Study of “Technical Analysis”. The Journal of Business, 64(4), 549–571.

3.       TAYLOR, Mark P., and Helen ALLEN, 1992. The Use of Technical Analysis in the Foreign Exchange Market. Journal of International Money and Finance, 11(3), 304–314.

4.       BROCK, William, Josef LAKONISHOK, and Blake LEBARON, 1992. Simple Technical Trading Rules and the Stochastic Properties of Stock Returns. The Journal of Finance, 47(5), 1731–1764.

5.       BLUME, Lawrence, David EASLEY, and Maureen O’HARA, 1994. Market Statistics and Technical Analysis: The Role of Volume. The Journal of Finance, 49(1), 153–181.

6.       LUI, Yu-Hon, and David MOLE, 1998. The Use of Fundamental and Technical Analyses by Foreign Exchange Dealers: Hong Kong Evidence. Journal of International Money and Finance, 17(3), 535–545.

7.       NEELY, Christopher J., 1998. Technical Analysis and the Profitability of U.S. Foreign Exchange Intervention. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 80(4), 3–18.

8.       LEBARON, Blake, 1999. Technical trading rule profitability and foreign exchange intervention. Journal of International Economics, 49(1), 125–143.

9.       LO, Andrew W., Harry MAMAYSKY, and Jiang WANG, 2000. Foundations of Technical Analysis: Computational Algorithms, Statistical Inference, and Empirical Implementation. The Journal of Finance, 55(4), 1705–1765.

10.     FERN´ANDEZ-RODR´IGUEZ, Fernando, Christian GONZ´ALEZ-MARTEL, and Sim´on SOSVILLA-RIVERO, 2000. On the Profitability of Technical Trading Rules Based on Artificial Neural Networks: Evidence from the Madrid Stock Market. Economics Letters, 69(1), 89–94.

11.     LEE, Charles M. C., and Bhaskaran SWAMINATHAN, 2000. Price Momentum and Trading Volume. The Journal of Finance, 55(5), 2017–2069.

12.     CESARI, R., and D. CREMONINI, 2003. Benchmarking, Portfolio Insurance and Technical Analysis: A Monte Carlo Comparison of Dynamic Strategies of Asset Allocation. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 27(6), 987–1011.

13.     KAVAJECZ, Kenneth A., and Elizabeth R. ODDERS-WHITE, 2004. Technical Analysis and Liquidity Provision. The Review of Financial Studies, 17(4), 1043–1071.

 

BOOKS:

1.       Technical analysis of the Financial markets by Jhon J. Murphy, Newyork Institute of Finance, 1999.

2.       Essential Technical Analysis Tools and Techniques to Spot Market Trends by Leigh Stevens, John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2002

3.       Security Analysis and Portfolio Management by Punivathy Pandian, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 2001.

4.       Security Analysis and Portfolio Management by S.Kevin, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, 2001.

 

WEBSITES:

www.bseindia.com

www.investopedia.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.rbi.org

www.technicalanalysis.com

 

 

 

Received on 10.03.2011                    Accepted on 10.05.2011        

©A&V Publications all right reserved

Asian J. Management 2(3): July-Sept., 2011 page 98-103