The Hindu Business Line : Bears prevail

BEARS prevailed over Wednesday's trading activity. However, they could not gain much from the day's trading. The sentiment reading of the tradable counters stands neutral. Bear move on Thursday is likely to change the sentiment reading to bearish. On the contrary, the sentiment reading is likely to turn bullish.

Nifty futures recommendation: The August contract opened with a bear gap of six points and went further down by another 12 points. During the close, bulls managed to make a partial recovery. The August contract moved within a band of 18 points registering an intra-day high of 1628.40. It closed with a loss of seven points with respect to Tuesday's close.

Bear domination during the day led to the reversal of the uptrend in the August contract.

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The long trade exited with a nominal profit of 12 points. In the normal course of trading on Thursday, the initiated short position is likely to continue. Bullish trigger level for the August contract is placed far away.

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

Except for the uptrend in Reliance, all the other counters in the list are likely to be under threat. Bears are likely to have opportunity in Infosys, ONGC, Satyam and Tata Motors.

Buying opportunities are likely to exist in CNX IT, Satyam, State Bank and Tata Motors.

Selling in Satyam is likely to be the best for Thursday's trading. Bearish trigger level for this counter is placed very close to its last traded price. Bear pressure on Thursday is likely to initiate the downtrend in Satyam.

Cash segment: The most active counters in the tradable list and their ranking remain undisturbed. Bears were successful in triggering the downtrend in the recommended counter-M&M.

Bear pressure on Thursday is likely to terminate the uptrend in Infosys, ONGC and Satyam. On the other hand, the downtrend in State Bank is likely to be under threat.

Buying opportunities are likely to exist in Reliance, State Bank and Tata Motors.

Selling opportunities are likely to exist in Infosys, ONGC, Satyam and Tata Motors.

The best among the above is likely to be the buying in Reliance. This counter is in the sideways mode. Its buy level is placed quite closer to its current level. Bull domination on Thursday has the potential to initiate the uptrend in Reliance.

(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.