Mid market commentary July 18

Indian markets opened on a positive note following the last moment recovery on July 15. The benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex are 0.5 per cent upwards. Bank Nifty broke its 52 week high by hitting 19150 mark. Smallcap index slightly outperformed; while Midcap index slightly underperformed the benchmark with 0.7 and 0.4 per cent gains respectively. Market breadth remains positive with 1582 advances and 948 declines.

Monsoon session of Parliament begins today and street remains hopeful of important decisions including passing of GST bill along with a total of 25 bills to be passed.

Barring Media and FMCG that are down 0.6 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively, all other sectors are trading in green where Auto and Pvt. Banks lead the move. TATAMTRDVR that surged 3.4 per cent pulled Auto to trade with 1.3 per cent gains. Axis Bank has risen 2 per cent after RBI raised foreign investment ceiling to 74 per cent. Media sector was dragged down by ZEEL that tumbled 1.5 per cent.

Nifty top gainers: Apart from TATAMTRDVR, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto and Axis Bank surged and gained more than 2 per cent each. Tata Motors followed with 1.9 per cent gains. Reliance too gained 1 per cent post positive results on Friday after market hours.

Nifty top losers: Bharti Airtel lost the most, dropping 2 per cent. ZEEL, ONGC, Wipro and IDEA followed with more than 1 per cent losses.

Nifty has recovered from prior day's losses and is all set to break its 52 week high near 8620 levels. For now, we hold 8620 followed by 8655 as our next upside target. In case of any retreat we hold 8550-8500 as the supports for Nifty.

Asian markets traded on flat to negative note while safe havens like Gold and Silver dropped. Japan was closed for public holiday. Shanghai Composite remained marginally down by 0.35 per cent.

Stocks to watch:

Mukta Arts: The stock of Mukta Arts gave a sudden spurt, post morning trade after the company announced the launch of its three screen multiplex Mukta Cinemas at Dehradun. Company is about to launch another two screen multiplex at Panvel on July 22.

Ajanta Pharma: The company has received the USFDA approval for Omeprazole and Sodium Bicarbonate capsules in US markets through its subsidiary Ajanta Pharma USA Inc. The stock is trading 1.7 per cent up at Rs 1623.

SPARC: Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company entered into a licensing agreement with SPARC for its Elepsia drug with an upfront payment of 10 million USD. SPARC surged more than 4 per cent with the announcement.

Hindustan Unilever: The stock of HUL tumbled more than 1 per cent ahead of muted results for June 2016 quarter. The results are expected to remain muted.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals: According to media reports Glenmark Pharma has planned to raise 200 million USD by issuing dollar denominated non convertible unsecured bonds to repay debt.