The Hindu Business Line : Bears prevail

Bears prevailed over Wednesday's trading activity. The sentiment reading of the tradable counters changed to bearish. Bull move on Thursday is likely to change the sentiment reading in their favour. On the contrary, the prevailing bearish sentiment is likely to be further strengthened with additional counters.

NIFTY FUTURES:

The February month contract opened with a bear gap of around 8 points from its previous close. The February month contract moved within a range of around 76 points making an intraday low of 4051.65.

The February month contract closed with a loss of around 55 points from its previous close.

The long position in the February month contract exited and entered short. The short exit and long entry levels are placed far away from its last traded price. These levels are unlikely to be triggered during the normal course of trading on Thursday.

STOCK FUTURES:

The composition and ranking of the top-10 tradable list had minor changes. Reliance Capital gave way to ONGC. ONGC occupied tenth position in the ranking. SBI, IDBI and Reliance moved down while Tata Steel moved up in the ranking.

The top-3 tradable counters in this segment were Tata Steel, SBI and IDBI. The short exit level for Reliance Capital is placed at 636.85.

There are eight downtrend counters and a lone uptrend counter in the top-10 tradable list. The downtrend counters Reliance, Satyam and ONGC are likely to be under threat for Thursday's trading. On the other hand, the uptrend counter IDBI is likely to be terminated.

There are four buying opportunities and a lone selling opportunity for Thursday's trading. The best among them is likely to be selling in IDBI. This counter is in uptrend. Bear move on Thursday is likely to reverse the prevailing trend in this counter.

CASH SEGMENT:

The composition of the top-10 tradable list had no changes. However the ranking had minor changes. IDBI and ICICI interchanged their position. Tata Steel moved up in the ranking while Satyam, SAIL, Reliance and Infosys moved down. The short exit level for TCS is placed at 1313.95.

There are seven downtrend counters and three uptrend counters in the top-10 tradable list. Except Tisco, Polaris and ICICI, other downtrend counters are likely to be under threat for Thursday's trading. On the other hand, all the uptrend counters are likely to be terminated.

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There are four buying opportunities and three selling opportunities for Thursday's trading.

The best among them is likely to be selling in IDBI. This counter is in uptrend. Bear move on Thursday is likely to reverse the prevailing 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.