Top 5 Stock Market action to look out for today

The Nifty is likely to remain in an uptrend on Thursday as left over, pent up buying from the previous day pushes the Index above its 3-month highs. However, gains are likely to be muted as it nears a tough resistance and overseas cues are flat.

The Nifty ended at 8,633, up 104 points on Wednesday. The Index now faces a resistance zone in the 8,637-8,737 levels on daily charts and has a strong support at 8,567-point level. Major earnings today are Bajaj Auto, GAIL, Lupin and Wipro.

Shares closed weak overnight on Wall Street with major Indices dipping between 0.2-0.7 percent. Similar falls were seen in European markets where the Indices lost 0.5-1.6 percent on Wednesday. Stocks in Asia are in a mild uptrend with minor upticks in Japanese and Chinese markets.

Cues from the commodities space are strong: US crude oil Futures for September slipped to 3-month lows, trading below $50 a barrel. Gold Futures hit their lowest since March 2010 on sustained selling. US Dollar Index is at a 3-month high.

Meanwhile, foreign funds turned net buyers again in the cash market, making purchases worth 450 crores on Wednesday. They were more or less balanced by net sales of 352 crore rupees by the domestic institutions. The mood was quieter still in the derivatives space with `295 crores worth of sales in Index Futures; `263 crores worth of sales in Stock Futures; Index Options saw purchases of `716 crores and Stock Options raked in `17 crores worth of purchases.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

CAIRN INDIA: Former parent Cairn Energy plans to vote against present owner Vedanta's plan to buy out minority shareholders in Cairn India, where Cairn Energy retains a minority share.

BHARTI INFRATEL: CLSA raises price target to `520 from `450

JSW ENERGY: Credit Suisse cuts price target to `125 from `140.

BALKRISHNA INDS: Credit Suisse cuts price target to `700 from `725

SKS MICRO: UBS raises price target to `650 from `600

(Image credit: Indiatimes)