Top Stock Market action to look out for today

Indian stocks may see some buying at lower levels on Thursday as global markets quieten down after the Chinese devaluation and investors hunt for value in beaten down shares. A strong Industrial Output growth of 3.8 percent in June may enthuse traders to go long on the market. The rupee will remain central to today's trade.

Meanwhile, the SGX Nifty signals a 20-point uptick at opening for Nifty futures today. The logjam in Parliament continues to worry large investors as the regulatory decision making comes to a halt with regards to the passage of the all important GST bill.

Overseas cues are mostly flat to bearish as markets digest China's devaluation moves for the third day. Major US indices were either flat or rose between 0.1-0.2% on Wednesday. Europe continued to bleed: losses amounted to 1.4-3.3%. The trends in the commodity space are modestly bullish for Indian equities. Crude oil futures remain at 6-year low on fears of a slowdown in demand from China.

Gold and Silver futures showed a bit of selling and the metals space remained weak. Markets in Japan, Hong Kong and China posted modest gains.

Meanwhile, the Nifty Index closed at 8,349 points, losing 113 on Wednesday on intense delivery-based selling in heavyweights such as State Bank of India and Tata Motors hit sentiment. The index, down for the 4th day, is now conclusively below its 20-,50 and 200-day moving averages, signalling a change in the overall trend to bearishness for the moment. The Nifty's support levels are seen at 8,289 points and the resistance is visible at 8,433-8,530.
The sentiment was heavily bearish in the cash market. Foreign Institutional Investors totalled net sells of a whopping `1,855 crore rupees on Wednesday, their 4th day of sales and the biggest negative number in at least a month. Domestic institutions provided the much needed support to the market by making net purchases worth 1,224 crores.

The derivatives space saw negative action. Traders made net sales of a huge 2,501 crore rupees for Index Futures; Net purchases of 331 crore rupees for Stock Futures; Purchases of `2,732 crore rupees for Index options and net sales of 162 crore rupees for Stock Options.

Major earnings today are from ONGC, Kaveri Seeds, IOC, DLF, ICRA and Tata Power.

Major delivery based sales were seen on State Bank of India, worth 500 crore rupees; Tata Motors and Coal India. Heavy deliveries were lifted in Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech, all accompanied by a rise in prices.

Image credit: Indiatimes