The Hindu Business Line : Bears prevail

THE sentiment reading of the tradable counters stands bearish. Bull domination on Tuesday is likely to change the sentiment reading in its favour. Otherwise, the prevailing bearish sentiment is likely to continue with added strength.

Nifty futures recommendation: During the open, the June contract gained nine points. Later on, bears took charge of the day's trading and wiped out their early losses. The June contract moved within a band of 23 points. It closed with a loss of 11 points with respect to Friday's close.

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The sideways trend in the June contract remained intact. Bearish trigger level for the June contract is now placed within 3 points from its last traded value.

Bear pressure on Tuesday is likely to initiate the downtrend in the June contract. Bullish trigger level for the June contract is placed far away.

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

Bull domination on Tuesday is likely to terminate the downtrend in ONGC and Tata Steel. On the other hand, the lone uptrend counter CNX-IT is likely to be under threat.

Buying opportunities are unlikely to exist for Tuesday's trading. Selling opportunities are likely to exist in CNX-IT, M&M, Maruti and Tata Motors.

The best among the above is likely to be Maruti. Bearish trigger level for this counter is placed very close to its current level.

Bear pressure on Tuesday is likely to trigger the downtrend in Maruti.

Cash segment: There were no new entries or exits to the top-10 tradable list in this segment. The ranking of the list had few changes. Satyam moved to the second position and Tata Motors to the fifth position.

Bull pressure on Tuesday could be a threat to the downtrend in GAIL, ONGC and Tata Steel. On the contrary, the uptrend in Infosys is likely to be terminated.

Bulls are unlikely to have any opportunity for Tuesday's trading. Selling opportunities are likely to exist in Maruti and Tata Motors.

Between the two, the best bet is likely to be Maruti. Sell level for this counter is placed within Rs 2 from its closing value.

Bear move on Tuesday is likely to initiate a fresh downtrend in Maruti.

(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 technical analyst and fund management consultant.