Top things to look for in the markets today

The Nifty is likely to trade in a sideways band this week as traders refrain from taking long positions due to the EU-Greece overhang and on tepid results expected from leading software majors. The Index lost 1.9 percent last week.

Local stocks may take heart from the flat-to-weak prices of Gold and Crude Oil Futures. Meanwhile, the spread of Monsoon rains across India brings cheer. They are just 2 percent below normal after half the season is over. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has remarked that 8-10 percent growth looks `eminently achievable' after the monsoon was better than last year.

Sowing of Kharif Crops is exhibiting a strong trend across India as farmers take advantage of the monsoon's wide distribution.

However, no strong cues emanate from overseas equity and commodities markets for local stocks. US stocks posted modest gains last week. Markets across the world are watching the dialogue between the European Union and debt-laden Greece on further bailouts after Athens defaulted on an IMF payment earlier in July.

The emergency meeting over the weekend yielded no results as the EU was insistent that Greece execute a series of reform measures before fresh bailouts can be discussed.

The trend of foreign buying on local stocks continues to be bearish. Foreign investors sold 465 crore rupees worth of shares on the local markets on Friday, however, the loss was more than made up as local institutions purchased shares worth 590 crore rupees in the cash market. The trend was equally morose in the derivatives space with 1,078 crore rupees worth of sales on Stock Futures and a meagre 7 crore rupee purchase on Index futures.

STOCKS TO WATCH

PSU Banks: Syndicate, Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank: The Finance Ministry plans to pump an extra `12,000 crore rupees into some PSU banks that are faltering due to heavy NPAs on their balance sheets. The first among the lot could be Syndicate Bank, Central Bank of India and Allahabad Bank.

MINING STOCKS: IIP data for May shows progress in debottlenecking. This may prompt long positions on market favourites like Coal India.

MARUTI: Global brokerage CLSA retains `Buy' on Maruti with a price target of `4,450/share. It says multiple catalysts are in place to drive strong earnings growth

CAIRN INDIA: CLSA maintains `Buy; with a target of `250/share. It says fall in commodity prices have made the merger with Vedanta more unattractive.

GLENMARK: Morgan Stanley raises its price target on the pharma company to `1,227 from `961 while maintaining its `Overweight' stance on the stock.

EICHER MOTORS: Expects to hit monthly sales of 52,000 units by December, from 36,500 units now as new capacity comes onstream.

EMAMI: Remains on the look out for new products to expand its portfolio of offerings.

(Image credit: Indiatimes)