Stocks on Dalal Street are likely to trade in a narrow band for the second day in a row after rebounding from lows on Wednesday. There is lost of skepticism and cautiousness among the investors as they are worried about the valuations after the Sensex gained more than 70 percent this year. Expect the benchmark index or the Sensex to trade in a band of 50 to 100 points for the day
We are likely to witness a dull day of trading today, partly due to the holiday season that is keeping FII's off the market. Part of the problem is that investors are not sure about the direction of the market from here on, with the inflation number creeping up. The Central Bank is more likely to announce an interest rate hike some time soon and this might give the bears a reason to pull the market down.
Telecom and Auto stocks were strong performers among the Nifty Fifty pack, with Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular gaining more than 3 percent and Tata Motors and Mahindra managing similar gains to finish the day on a stronger note. The Midcap space which has seen a flurry of activity in the past month has taken a pause and there have been only few pockets of activity in this space, as the sentiment turned bearish.
Some the Midcap stocks that were in demand include Havells India, which jumped nearly 10 percent on expectations of stronger performance from its European subsidiary . Hemadri Chemicals, Greenply Ind, GHCL, Archidply and last but not the least Sterling Biotech were among other gainers. Orchid Chem finished the session near the lows of day, as investors were not impressed with the sale of the injectables unit