Why is Ester Industries falling/rising?

As of 29-Jul, Ester Industries Ltd's stock price is currently at Rs 120.90, reflecting an increase of Rs 2.85 or 2.41%. The stock has shown a positive trend today, gaining after two consecutive days of decline, and opened with a gap up of 3.3%. It reached an intraday high of Rs 122, outperforming its sector by 1.63%. However, despite today's gains, the stock has underperformed in the longer term, with a year-to-date decline of 20.67% and a 12.49% drop over the past year. Positive factors include a growth in net sales of 3.02% and consistent positive results over the last four quarters, but the stock's long-term fundamentals are weak, indicated by a negative return on capital employed and a high debt to EBITDA ratio.
In the broader market context, Ester Industries has shown a slight improvement in the short term compared to the benchmark, as it gained 0.04% over the past week while the Sensex fell by 1.03%. However, the stock's performance over the last month and year remains concerning, with declines of 6.28% and 12.49%, respectively, compared to the Sensex's modest gains. This consistent underperformance against the benchmark over the last three years, coupled with low domestic mutual fund interest, suggests a lack of confidence in the stock's future performance despite recent positive sales growth.