Top stock market action to look out for today

The Nifty is likely to consolidate at current levels on Monday as stocks experience last week's pent up buying even as overseas moves give muted-to-weak directions to local stocks. PSU banks are likely to be in focus after the government took steps to ease control and inject funds in these NPA-laden lenders.

Meanwhile, the SGX Nifty signals a 21-point downtick at opening for Nifty futures today. Investors may fret over the 10 percent deficit so far in monsoon rains but they will take comfort from the Nifty surging 2 percent on Friday, mainly on account of short covering.

Overseas cues are mostly negative. Major US indices lost 0.6-1.1% last week. European indices were under intense selling pressure, dropping 2.8-4.6% in the previous five days.

The commodities market presented a mixed trend on Monday. Oil Futures remain at 6-year lows on fears of a further rise in OPEC's output in a market that is already experiencing a glut of supplies. Gold and Silver futures inched up marginally. Copper Futures were strong. Markets in Japan edge up after Japanese GDP contracted less than expected. Stocks in China and Hong Kong slipped in trade.

Meanwhile, the Nifty Index closed at 8,518 points, up 163 on Friday mainly due to a strong bout of short covering ahead of the Finance Ministry's press conference on PSU banks' recapitalisation.

The sentiment turned positive in the cash market. Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers for the first time in six sessions, purchasing stocks to the tune of `404 crore rupees on Friday. Domestic institutions joined the party as well, shelling out 179 crores in net buys.

The derivatives space saw muted action. Traders made net purchases of 435 crore rupees for Index Futures; Net sales of 71 crore rupees for Stock Futures; Purchases of `667 crore rupees for Index options and net sales of 61 crore rupees for Stock Options.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

EARNINGS RELATED:

Amtek Auto, BEML, Cipla, Punj Lloyd, Reliance Communications and Suven Life.

BIRLA CORP: Acquires 2 cement assets from Lafarge for an enterprise value of 5,000 crore rupees.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)