The Hindu Business Line : Bear onslaught

THE sentiment reading of the tradable counters stands bearish. Irrespective of bull or bear domination on Monday, the prevailing bearish sentiment is likely to continue with a slight change in its value.

Nifty futures recommendation: The May month contract opened with a gap of 5 points. But, bulls failed to capitalise on it as bears took control of the day's proceedings. May contract moved within a wide band of 160 points. It closed with a loss of 128 points.

Bear domination during the day re-instated the downtrend in the May contract. The short position is unlikely to be disturbed on Monday. The exit and bullish trigger levels for the May contract are placed far away.

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Stock futures recommendation: The top-10 tradable list in this segment had changes. HPCL and Union Bank gained entry with the exit of Infosys and ONGC. The top three traded counters in this segment were Reliance, Tata Steel and State Bank of India. The exit level for the uptrend in Infosys and the downtrend in ONGC is placed at Rs 4929.95 and Rs 829.05 respectively.

For Monday, the uptrend in CNX IT and Reliance are likely to be under threat. Bulls are unlikely to have any opportunity for Monday's trading.

Selling opportunities are likely to exist in CNX IT and Reliance. Between the two, the best is likely to be Reliance. This counter is in the uptrend. Its exit and sell levels are placed very close to its current level. Bear pressure on Monday is likely to trigger these levels.

Cash segment: There were no new entries to the top-10 tradable list. The ranking of the list had some changes. State Bank of India moved to the fifth position followed by Satyam and Union Bank. The downtrend in Canara Bank is likely to be terminated at Rs 158.30.

Bear move on Monday is likely to terminate the uptrend in Infosys and Power Trade Corp. The prevailing downtrend counters in the list are likely to be safe. Bear pressure prevailing in the market has placed the entry levels for all the counters at a far away level. The nearest entry level is for Infosys on the short side. This counter is in the uptrend. Bear domination on Monday has the potential to reverse the prevailing uptrend in Infosys.

(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.