IRFC shares down 27% from one-year high; key technical levels to watch

Shares of Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd (IRFC) continued their fall for the second straight session in Thursday's trade. The stock fell 1.12 per cent to hit a day low of Rs 141.30. At this price, the scrip has declined 26.71 per cent from its one-year high value of Rs 192.80, a level seen earlier this year on January 23. Even so, the multibagger counter has rallied 454.55 per cent compared to its 52-week low of Rs 25.48, hit on March 29, 2023.

On technical charts, support for the stock could be seen in the Rs 135-130 zone. And, immediate resistance will be at Rs 148.

Jigar S Patel, Senior Manager - Technical Research Analyst at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers, said, "Support will be at Rs 140 and resistance at Rs 148. A decisive close above Rs 148 level may trigger a further upside till Rs 155. Expected trading range will be between Rs 130 and Rs 160 for a month."

AR Ramachandran from Tips2trades said, "IRFC looks slightly bearish on daily charts with strong resistance at Rs 151. A daily close below support of Rs 135 could lead to a downward target of Rs 117 in the near term."

The counter was trading higher than the 5-day, 10-, 20-, 100-, 150-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs) but lower than the 30-day and 50-day SMAs.

The stock's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) came at 50.22. A level below 30 is defined as oversold while a value above 70 is considered overbought.

In December 2023-24 (Q3 FY24) quarter, the rail PSU's net profit slipped 1.78 per cent to Rs 1,604 crore from Rs 1,633 crore in the year-ago period.

Revenue from operations, however, rose 8.43 per cent to Rs 6,742 crore in Q3 FY24 as against Rs 6,218 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

IRFC borrows funds from the financial markets to finance the acquisition or creation of assets which are then leased out to the Indian Railways or any entity under the Ministry of Railways. As of December 2023, promoters held 86.36 per cent stake in the 'Navratna' PSU.