The Hindu Business Line : Bull run arrested

BEARS gained control of Wednesday's trading activity. Their dominance resulted in reducing the bull count. However, the sentiment reading of the tradable counters remains bullish. Further bear pressure on Thursday is likely to change the sentiment reading in their favour. On the other hand, the prevailing sentiment is likely to continue with a slight change in its value.

Nifty Futures Recommendation: During the open, the December contract gained six points. Later on, bears took charge of the day's trading and wiped out their early losses.

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The December contract moved within a band of 27 points registering an intra-day low of 2,022. It closed with a loss of around 15 points with respect to Tuesday's close.

The long position in the December contract remains intact. However, this is likely to be under threat for Thursday.

The exit and bearish trigger levels are placed quite closer to the current levels. Bear move on Thursday has the potential to reverse the prevailing uptrend in December contract.

Stock Futures Recommendation: The composition as well as the ranking of the top 10 active counters list remains unchanged. The top three traded counters in this segment were Reliance, Maruti and Tata Motors.

Except for the downtrend in Satyam, all the other counters in the list are likely to be under threat. Selling opportunities are likely to exist in six counters.

Buying opportunities are likely to exist in three counters. Selling in Ranbaxy is likely to be the best for Thursday's trading.

Bearish trigger level for this counter is placed very close to its last traded value. Bear pressure on Thursday is likely to initiate a fresh downtrend in Ranbaxy.

Cash Segment: There were no new entries or exits to the top 10 tradable list. The ranking of the list too remains the same with no major changes.

Bears were successful in initiating the downtrend in the recommended counter - Satyam.

Bear pressure on Thursday is likely to terminate most of the uptrend counters in the list. On the other hand, the downtrend in Infosys is likely to be under threat.

Selling opportunities are likely to exist in six counters. A lone buying opportunity is likely to exist in Infosys.

The best bet for Thursday's trading is likely to be selling in Tata Steel. This counter is in the uptrend.

The exit and sell levels for this counter are placed quite closer to its last traded price. Bear move on Thursday is likely to reverse the prevailing uptrend in Tata Steel.

(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.