The Sensex made a modest gain of 11 points to close at 3908.11. For a pre-budget week this is rather a cautious and creeping advance. There are several scrips in the Sensex list, which have potential to make small gains upside. The opportunity is to tap into these gains right now as whether the rise will be sustained is difficult to answer. The market opened with the Sensex at 3882.03. At opening, the index was down by 15 points over the previous week's close of 3897.10. The intra-day high went up to 3934.00, which was again a clear 46 points lower than the previous high of 3980.211. The low for the day at 3878.04 lost 3 points over the previous low. At close, the Sensex had gained just 11 points.Thus the Monday market has continued the trend of closing for the previous week, which was rather unenthusiastic. However, gains were spread through most of the Sensex scrips. ITC was an exception with a loss of 0.44 per cent. SAIL, the other heavy weight took a beating of 3.53 per cent. The market mood wasreflected in SBI losing 0.39 per cent and Tisco 0.66 per cent. ACC can be expected to continue to move in a narrow range. Technicals have signalled a buy in Arvind Mills. Bajaj Auto has moved into the overbought area.
It will have to stay here and do better to set target for the higher zone. BSES is gathering strength slowly. HLL is positive but the scope on the upside is rather limited right now. One could hold on to ICICI and add more on declines, but there is no way to figure out if this scrip will move up strongly as yet. For Bajaj Auto Rs 662 is a resistant point, but looks like the scrip will vault over this and put itself into a higher orbit.
Considering that it should be a good play picking up at Rs 650. Stay invested in Grasim. Pick up Glaxo closer to Rs 410. Pick up Gujarat Ambuja as it is priming to move up. IPCL could be a good bet but only if you pick it close to Rs 70. On the upside it has an immediate resistance at Rs 75 to over come. ITC could make a surprise move up even thoughtechnicals do not yet indicate a buy! Hold on to L&T but fresh buying is recommended strictly at lower levels closer to Rs 264. It is time to make an entry into M&M.
The scrip is moving up after a persistent slide, when other scrips were trying to move up last week. Continue to pick MTNL closer to the lower tested limit of Rs 232. The scrip refuses to move up, but at the same time it is unlikely that you will be able to pick it up below Rs 232. Rewards will come in medium term, when the story changes.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
