On Thursday, the benchmark indices witnessed range bound trading session; the Sensex was up by 128 points. Among Sectors, buying were seen in Metal, Energy and Auto stocks, while Media index corrected the most shed over 1.5 percent. Technically, the market has been witnessing range bound activity on the lower side. It is consistently taking support near 74,350 while witnessing profit booking near 74800-75000 areas. Shrikant Chouhan, Head equity Research, Kotak Securities, said: “We are of the view that, the current market texture is non-directional perhaps traders are waiting for either side breakout. For the bulls now, 75000 would act as an immediate breakout level.” Above the same, the market could move up till 75300-75400. On the flip side, below 74,350 the index could slip till 74000-73800.

Indian markets ended marginally higher in a sluggish trading session as weak global cues and prospects of a further delay in rate cuts due to inflation concerns prompted investors to take select bets. “Market had run-up sharply in recent sessions and higher valuations are beginning to make investors worry,” says Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

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

STOCK PICKS

BPCL

CMP: 634.65 | SL: 600.00 | Target: 690.00

The stock has given a good breakout above its swing high of 620 and successfully managed to close above the same. With RSI (14) on the daily timeframe at 62 and showing a minor uptick, and volumes witnessing a good overall pick-up, the overall momentum looks strong, and the stock looks poised for an upside towards 690 and above with a set stop-loss at the 600 mark.

Escorts Kubota Ltd.

CMP: 3479.80 | SL: 3400.00 | Target: 3700.00

The stock has given a strong breakout above its all-time high mark of 3440.15 and successfully managed to close above the same. With the RSI (14) on daily charts at 82.54, the stock is showing slightly overbought conditions and should be looked at from a “buy on declines” perspective. A strict stop-loss should be kept at the 3400 mark, and we can see potential upside targets of 3700 and above.

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