Thursday, February 18, 2010

Stocks to trade in a narrow band

Stocks on Dalal Street might open flat to positive on Thursday, after a gain of more than one percent on both the Sensex and Nifty. We expect the major indices to trade in a band of 0.5 percent for the day, as there is a likelihood of profit booking at higher levels. However, we should see buying in select counters like power, which might be major beneficiaries of budget sops

Consumer Durables and Metal sectors were the leaders in yesterday's trade, helped by gains in Tata steel, Sterlite Ind and Hindalco.Telecom counters remained strong with buying activity in Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications. We might see some profit booking in Metal counters today, so please stay away from getting in to these stocks at higher levels.There was a flurry of buying orders in stocks like On Mobile, Godrej Ind, Fortis Healthcare and Videocon Ind following the announcement that these stocks will be added to the F&O segment starting Feb 19, Friday.

We like Power and power related Midcaps like Indotech Transformers, Voltamp Transformers and Emco Ltd. We see this as a great way to participate in the pre-budget rally. Cement is another sector that might firm up in the run up to the budget. Heidelberg Cement and Prism Cement are the stocks to watch out in the Midcap space. Shares of Thinksoft Ltd failed to find buyers for the second day in a row with the scrip ending lower by 20 percent at Rs 318