Mumbai: Short covering buoyed by strong overseas market cues helped key benchmark indices end in positive territory, although the overall sentiment still remains cautious with bouts of intra-day volatility.

Prashanth Tapse, senior V-P (research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said: “Investors would be watchful of their equity exposure over the next few weeks as any adverse news on the election front could trigger massive sell-off going ahead.”

In last week, the benchmark indices corrected sharply, the Sensex was down over 1,200 points. Among sectors, PSU Banks drop 6 percent, Oil, and Gas indices shed 5 per cent, whereas FMCG and Auto indices outperformed, and FMCG both indices gained over 1 percent.

During the week, market slipped below 20 and 50-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) and consistently faced selling pressure at higher levels.

Technically, on daily and weekly charts it has formed Double Top formation, which indicates upward trend has slowed down. In addition, on weekly charts it has formed long bearish candle, which is largely negative.

Amol Athawale, V-P (technical research), Kotak Securities, said: “We are of the view that, the short-term texture of the market is still on the weak side, but due to temporary oversold conditions, we could see one pullback rally from the current levels.”

Amol added “For traders now, the 72,500 and 72,300 are important support levels. Above the same, the market could bounce back up to 73,000 points. Further upside may also continue which could life the market till 50-day SMA or 73,300.” On the flip side, fresh selling is possible only after dismissal of 72,300 points, below which the market could correct till 71,800-71,500 range.

STOCK PICKS

IREDA

CMP: 164.70 | SL: 157.50 | TARGET: 200

The stock has touched its anchor VWAP support mark of 160 on its daily as well as weekly charts. With the overall structure being positive and the stock moving in an uptrend, it is expected that the stock should hold well above the 157.50 mark. We can see potential targets of 200 and above coming in on the stock as volume and momentum are expected to pick up as the stock trades at interesting levels.

ACC Ltd

CMP: 2,360.15 | SL: 2,325 | TARGET: 2,500

The stock is trading around its major support mark of 2,350 on its daily timeframe charts. With the RSI (14) being around 33, the stock is indicating slightly oversold conditions at current levels and should likely eventually head towards 2,500 and above. A strict stop loss should, however, be kept at the 2,325 mark to manage risk.

(Source: Riyank Arora, technical analyst at Mehta Equities)

CMP (Current Market Price); SL (Stop Loss)/ All prices in Rs