- The market overall saw a market cap depletion of Rs.337,000 crore in the last five days with most of the damage visible in auto, banks and metal stocks. The indecision over BREXIT and the trade war remains an overhang.
- With the recent case of Apollo Hospitals, the problem of pledged shares continues to haunt stock prices. It is better to entirely stay away from stocks where the promoter pledge is more than 70% to begin with.
- FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs.(-677) crores while DFIs bought Rs.713 crore on Wednesday. The FIIs, who were buying in the first week of February have suddenly turned net sellers in the second week of the month.
- Markets across the US, Asia and Europe were in positive territory after there were renewed hopes over the BREXIT deal and the trade rift resolution. SGX Nifty is down nearly ½% and that may put pressure in Thursday trades.
- Keep an eye on steel companies like Tata Steel, SAIL and JSW Steel. An early decision on dumping duties is expected and that is likely to boost the fortunes of the steel sector. Buy with 20% upside targets.
- As said earlier, keep off companies where more than 70% of the promoter shares are pledged with financers. The data is available on BSE. These stocks are extremely vulnerable to sharp corrections.
- Bata reported stellar results for the third quarter ended December with over 50% growth in profits. Considering rich valuations; wait for a correction around Rs.1200 to accumulate the stock with targets of Rs.1500 in one quarter.
- The market is likely to be very news driven with the Parliament Panel inquiry likely to open a can of worms. Play Nifty longs only with hedges.
