The Hindu Business Line : Bears prevail

BEARS were successful to the extent of reducing the bull count during Thursday's trading. However, the sentiment reading of the tradable counters stands mildly in favour of the bulls. Bear pressure on Friday is likely to turn the sentiment reading to bearish. On the contrary, the prevailing sentiment is likely to be further strengthened.

Nifty futures recommendation: The September contract moved within a band of 19 points registering an intra-day high of 1638.70 after making a low of 1619.75. Neither bulls nor the bears could gain much from the day's trading as the September contract closed around its previous close.

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Bears were successful in terminating the uptrend in the September contract. The long trade exited with a nominal profit of 12 points. Bearish trigger level for the September is placed quite closer to its current level. Bear domination on Friday is likely to trigger the downtrend in the September contract.

Stock futures recommendation: There were no new entries or exits to the top-10 tradable list. Satyam, Tata Steel and Tata Motors were the top three traded counters in this segment.

Except for the uptrend in Maruti, all the counters in the list are likely to be under threat. Bears are likely to have opportunity in as much as eight counters. Buying opportunities are likely to exist in three counters. Selling in Tata Steel is likely to be the best bet for Friday's trading. Bearish trigger level for this counter is placed closer to its last traded value. Bear move on Friday is likely to initiate the downtrend in Tata Steel.

Cash segment: The most active top-10 counters list in this segment remains unchanged. The ranking of the list had some changes. Reliance moved to the second position followed by SAIL and Tata Motors.

Bear domination on Friday is likely to terminate most of the uptrend counters in the tradable list. On the other hand, the lone downtrend counter ONGC is likely to be under threat. Selling opportunities are likely to exist in eight counters. Buying opportunities are likely to exist in four counters. Selling in Tata Motors is likely to be the best for Friday's trading. This counter has closed at 386.00. Bear pressure on Friday is likely to trigger the downtrend in Tata Motors.

(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.