The Hindu Business Line : Initial gains not held

The September contract moved within a band of 19 points registering an intra-day low of 1665.35. It closed with a marginal loss of two points with respect to its previous close.

The long position in the September contract survived the bear pressure. The exit and bearish trigger levels for the September contract have been moved closer.

Bear domination on Thursday has the potential to reverse the prevailing uptrend in the September contract.

Stock futures recommendation: The composition of the top-10 tradable list as well as their ranking remains unchanged.

The top three traded counters in this segment were Maruti, Tata Motors and Tata Steel.

Except for the lone downtrend counter — Maruti, all the other counters in the list are likely to be under threat.

Bears are likely to have ample opportunities. Buying opportunities are likely to exist in two counters.

Selling in State Bank is likely to be the best for Thursday's trading.

This counter is in the uptrend. The exit and sell levels for this counter is placed quite closer to its last traded value.

Bear move on Thursday is likely to trigger these levels.

Cash segment: There were no new entries or exits to the top-10 active counters list.

The ranking of the list too remains unchanged.

Wednesday's market action had no impact on the recommended counter — Tata Steel.

Except for the downtrend in Maruti, all the other counters in the list are likely to be under threat.

Selling opportunities are likely to exist in as much as eight counters. Buying opportunities are likely to exist in three counters.

The best bet is likely to be the selling in Tata Motors. Bearish trigger level is placed closer to its current level.

Bear pressure on Thursday is likely to initiate a fresh 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.