The Hindu Business Line : Volatile movement

MARKET moved violently during the fag end of Thursday's trading. Bears managed to gain from the day's trading. The sentiment reading of the tradable counters stands mildly bearish. Bull domination on Friday is likely to neutralise the sentiment reading. Otherwise, the prevailing bearish sentiment is likely to be further strengthened.

Nifty futures recommendation: The February contract opened with a bear gap of eight points and went down by another 26 points. Bulls made a strong comeback to place the February contract in a positive region. However, this could not stand long as the bears had a say during the final moment of the day's activity. The February contract moved within a band of 60 points. It closed with a loss of 14 points with respect to Wednesday's close.

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Bears were successful in initiating the downtrend in the February contract. In the normal course of trading on Friday, the initiated downtrend is likely to continue. However, bull domination has the potential to terminate the downtrend. Bullish trigger level for the February contract is placed very far away and this is unlikely to be triggered.

Stock futures recommendation: The composition as well as the ranking of the top-10 tradable list remain intact. The top three traded counters in this segment were Reliance, Satyam and Tata Steel.

Bull domination on Friday is likely to terminate the downtrend in Maruti and State Bank. Selling opportunities are likely to exist in Reliance, Tata Power and Tata Steel. Buying opportunities are likely to exist in Maruti, Reliance and Tata Motors.

The best among the above is likely to be the selling in Reliance. Its sell level is placed closer to its last traded price. Bear move on Friday is likely to trigger this level.

Cash segment: There were no entries or exits to the top-10 tradable list. The ranking of the list had a minor change. Maruti and Tata Motors interchanged their positions.

Bull domination on Friday could be a threat to the downtrend in Satyam and State Bank. The prevailing uptrend counters in the list are likely to be safe. Bulls are unlikely to have any opportunity for Friday's trading. Selling opportunities are likely to exist in four counters. The best bet is likely to be Reliance. This counter is in the sideways mode. Its bearish trigger level is placed very near to its current level. Bear pressure on Friday is likely to initiate the downtrend in the counter.

(Note: All price levels refer to the absolute value of the shares traded on the NSE. There is risk of loss in trading.)

The author is a Chennai-based technical analyst and fund management consultant.