Ratnesh Goyal, Head of Technical Analysis at Arihant Capital, on Monday selected State Bank of India (SBI) shares as his top pick from the state-owned banking space. "The stock is under consolidation. Traders can consider buy-on-dip around Rs 730-740 levels with a stop loss of Rs 700. Expected targets would be Rs 780-825 in the near term," Goyal told Business Today TV. SBI's stock was last seen trading 1.08 per cent lower at Rs 758.45.
The second stock which the market expert liked from the PSU banking segment was Canara Bank. "There still some steam left in the counter. The Rs 560-570 zone would be a good entry level for an upside target of Rs 650. Keep stop loss placed at Rs 540," Goyal mentioned. Canara Bank shares were down 0.99 per cent at Rs 599.80.
Meanwhile, Indian equity benchmarks were trading in the red, dragged by banks, financials, consumer and technology stocks. Broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were also trading with sharp cuts. Today's fall in domestic indices came as Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel over the weekend spurred fears of a wider conflict.
14 out of the 16 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty IT were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 1 per cent, 1.03 per cent, 1.02 per cent, 0.35 per cent and 1.17 per cent. In contrast, Nifty Metal and Nifty Oil & Gas rose 0.87 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, Tata Consumer Products was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 2.09 per cent to trade at Rs 1,125.4. Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Adani Enterprises and Hindustan Unilever fell up to 1.98 per cent.
In contrast, ONGC, Hindalco, Nestle India, JSW Steel and Reliance Industries were the top gainers on Nifty50.
The overall market breadth was very weak as 2,920 shares were declining while 769 were advancing on BSE.