Mid-market commentary Aug 23

Indian markets opened on a flat note and witnessed range bound volatility ahead of August F&O expiry. Currently benchmarks are trading flat to negative with decline in Oil prices, despite of  a production freeze where the supply glut still offsets anything else. Midcap has underperformed with 0.2 per cent losses; while Smallcap has outperformed with 0.15 per cent gains.

Market bias remains positive with 1226 advances and 1136 declines. Barring IT which is 1.7 per cent up all others are trading in red. HCL Tech, Infy, TCS and Tech Mahindra are the top gainers while BHEL and BPCL have tumbled the most with 3 per cent losses.

It’s a third day of fall and we can expect Nifty to take support and bounce back provided it does not fall below 8600 mark. Otherwise below this we hold 8540-8520 as the next supports. On the contrary 8640-8700 will act as the resistances.

Stocks to watch:

Nestle India: Nestle’s biggest brand Maggi Noodles has gained 57.1 per cent of market share in June after the imposed ban being lifted, and relaunching of the brand by the Company in November 2015. The stock has risen up to 6850 levels in the morning tick itself and is currently trading at 6815.

Manpasand Beverages: As per one of the IPO objectives, company has set up a new manufacturing facility in Ambala, Haryana. The stock opened with a gap-up at 734.50 levels.

Pfizer: According to media reports, Pfizer has agreed to buy US Cancer drug company Medivation Inc., for a consideration of 14 Billion USD. The stock has surged by more than 2 per cent after the news.

Birla Corporation: The company has acquired Anil Ambani's cement business, a wholly-owned arm of flagship Reliance Infrastructure for a consideration of Rs 4,800 crore.

HPCL: The stock has tumbled 4.5 per cent after announcing its Q1 results, where revenues have dropped from Rs 54739 crores to Rs 51599 crores. But net profits have risen to Rs 2149 crores from Rs 1595 crores YoY.