“22,200 is where the major support is going into the next few trading sessions and 22,000 is a very strong base looking at the derivatives data and the technical setup,” says Rahul Sharma, JM Financial Services.

If you look at the charts of Nifty from the start of April series, the Nifty has been range bound around the 22,500 level, today it tried to breach that, it went up to 22,600 but could not hold on to these gains. So, do you expect the benchmark to comfortably cross the 22,500 level anytime soon now?
This month is all about the dominant FII positioning that is there in the stock futures, at the same time the regression on the index futures has come down significantly. Now clearly if we look at the broader market, there has been a recovery in the mid and smallcap space which bodes well for the sentiment. Now the strategy should be simple, this being an election month plus we have the Q4 numbers which will start trickling in, so look to buy near support levels. 22,200 is where the major support is going into the next few trading sessions and 22,000 is a very strong base looking at the derivatives data and the technical setup.

Now our sense is sooner rather than later we should head towards the 23,000 mark, so the view remains positive for the Nifty, but at the same time it will be a bit of an up and down kind of a month where the last few trading sessions are testimony to that.

At an index level look to buy on dip and on a stock specific level there are individual setups which are very-very strong, the likes of PSUs, PSU banks, PSEs, power generation companies these are doing excellently well as far as the charts are concerned, so stick to strength and at the same time as far as index goes, historically like speaking of index Bank Nifty can be the surprise package as April has been a positive month historically for the banking index.
So, looking at the way PSU banks are placed I would not be surprised if the banking index sees a decent rally from current levels.

Only bullish on PSU banks or as well as on private banks like HDFC, IndusInd, RBL?
The leadership is definitely coming from the PSU banking space whereas the private banks are sort of chipping in. Today, we are seeing a follow-up buying after the reversal that we saw in HDFC Bank. So, definitely private banks is not like out and out bullish but it is a mixed bag as of now, but clearly looking at the PSU banking index that is poised well and we feel there is more upside to be had in the rest of this month.How do you look at the metal index. It has fallen around 2% percent from day’s high, do you expect a strong bounce back to come in when it comes to the Nifty metal index?
Absolutely. So, metals have been very-very strong in the last few trading sessions and a bit of a profit booking around is very-very normal. We feel there is more upside to this current move and dips can be looked upon for buying opportunities. In the metal space, our top picks remain Steel Authority of India, Tata Steel and the likes of Hindalco and even NMDC on the mining space looks pretty solid. Some of these stocks that I have discussed as a standard disclosure I hold them in my long-term portfolio as well, but the sense is the metal basket should continue to outperform after this brief correction.

Also just let us talk about the consumption side, the FMCG pack. What do you think about that, obviously we have not seen much of a performance coming in here, that subduedness is there. Is it the right time that you would start looking at it or is something in terms of the valuation or the price still expensive for you?
FMCG continues to be in the neutral to negative space. There are bits and pockets where there is outperformance but overall this sector has been languishing. Unless and until there is a major scare on the major trend of the market and market is really looking for defensives, I do not think this sector should see any kind of a major up move.

On the contrary, it is better to look at those sectors which have been relatively strong, for example — auto has been very strong, pharma has been very strong, look to buy on dips wherever there are regular intervals. The likes of PSE, PSU continue to impress and banks especially the PSU side is somewhere where we are channelising our focus on.

Let us talk some specific stocks today that have been buzzing in trade. Let us talk about something like NHPC, even PNB has seen very strong volumes. Anything interesting in the charts for any of these two stocks?
Yes, absolutely, NHPC is a pretty solid one at these levels. The correction got done sometime in mid-March and now even the time correction seems to be over. Looking at the chart I think this is headed towards the previous highs, close to around the 115 mark.

So, one can look to stay invested in the same. Even PNB for that matter we have a buy recommendation in the same.

In fact, yesterday we saw a very strong breakout on the back of strong volumes, and this seems to be headed towards the 150 mark.

So, both the stocks are poised pretty well and we feel there is an upside of at least 8% to 10% to be had in the short term.

Any top picks for today that you are looking and finding interesting?
We are going with two stocks today. So, one is BHEL. The stock has been consolidating but at the same time the positioning of the stock is still pretty bullish. We feel this stock, once it crosses the 255 mark, it can accelerate towards the 275 area, so look to accumulate at these levels, once it crosses 255 one can look to add on the long side, have a stop loss placed at around the 240 mark and one can look to stay long in the same.

The second stock which looks good on the long side is from the auto space. Tata Motors has been quiet since last few trading sessions, but we feel this stock can spring a surprise up to 1050 on the upside. So, one can look to buy Tata Motors with the stop loss of 975. Both the stocks remain on the buy side, one from the auto space and one from the capital goods space.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)