The behavior of the optical-orientation signal under resonant optical excitation of localized excitons in quantum wells with semimagnetic layers was studied both experimentally and theoretically. The most remarkable experimental observation made in this study is the increase in the degree of polarization of the quantum well radiation in the conditions in which the Hanle effect is observed. The behavior of magnetically induced circular luminescence polarization in a slightly tilted field (quasi-Voigt geometry) also appears unusual. Possible specific contributions to the optical exciton orientation in semimagnetic nanostructures are discussed. A theoretical model is proposed which, while being based on the well-known concepts of collective spin dynamics of magnetic ions in the exchange field of a photoexcited hole, takes into account fluctuations of the local magnetization. The calculations agree quantitatively with experiment for reasonable values of the parameters.