The Hindu Business Line : Bull run arrested

Friday's trading activity arrested the bull run. The sentiment reading of the tradable counters turned marginally bearish. Bear move on Monday is likely to further strengthen the bearish sentiment with additional counters. On the contrary it is likely to turn bullish.

Nifty Futures

The August month contract opened with a gap up of around 14 points. However, bulls could not sustain their initial momentum and gave way to bear pressure. The August contract moved with in a range of around 62 points making an intraday low of 3076.10. It closed with a loss of around 26 points from its previous close.

The August contract remains in sideways mode. Both the long entry and short entry levels are placed quite far away from Friday's last traded price. In the normal course of trading during Monday, these levels are unlikely to be triggered.

Stock Futures

The composition and ranking of the top-10 tradable list had no changes. The top-3 tradable counters in this segment were Reliance, SBIN and Tata Steel.

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Most of the counters in the tradable list are in downtrend. The downtrend counters Reliance, Tata motors and ONGC are likely to be under threat for Monday's trading. On the other hand, the lone uptrend counter Hind Lever is likely to be terminated during Monday's trading. Ample oppurtunities exist on either side of the trading. The best is likely to buying in ICICI which is in sideways mode. Bull move on Monday is likely to initiate a fresh long position in this counter.

Cash Segment

The composition and ranking of the top-10 tradable list had no changes. There are four downtrend counters and four uptrend counters in the list. All the counters except Maruti are likely to be under threat on Monday.

There are five selling oppurtunities and four buying oppurtunities for Monday's trading. The best is likely to be selling in VSNL. This counter is in uptrend. Bear move on Monday is likely to reverse the existing trend in this counter.

(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.