Rajesh Palviya, Head Technical Research at Axis Securities, on Thursday selected Laurus Labs Ltd as one of his top picks for the day. "The stock has seen a reversal in the previous session. We believe Rs 455-460 could be the next possible targets with a stop loss of Rs 436," the market expert told Business Today TV. Laurus Labs shares were last seen trading 0.35 per cent higher at Rs 444.40 today.
The other stock which the analyst suggested was LIC Housing Finance Ltd. "The stock can hit an upside target of Rs 670 in the near term. Stop loss will be at Rs 645," Palviya stated. LIC Housing's stock was down 0.34 per cent at Rs 651.65.
From the oil and gas space, Palviya liked GAIL (India) Ltd and Petronet LNG Ltd.
"One can look to buy GAIL shares for upside targets of Rs 224-226. Keep stop loss placed at Rs 208," the market expert said. For Petronet, he mentioned that the stock can extend its upmove and hit Rs 330-340 levels in the near term. Stop loss will be at Rs 309, Palviya added.
GAIL was up 1.80 per cent at Rs 209.50 and Petronet traded 0.50 per cent higher at Rs 309.50.
Meanwhile, Indian equity benchmarks were up today, led by gains in metals, PSU banks, consumer durables and automobile stocks. Broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were also up.
13 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Metal, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Auto were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.44 per cent, 1.22 per cent, 1.08 per cent and 0.80 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Healthcare slipped 0.23 per cent and 0.21 per cent.
On the stock-specific front, PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock soared 3.70 per cent to trade at Rs 284.4 in late morning deals. Airtel, BPCL, Grasim Industries and M&M rose up to 3.51 per cent.
In contrast, Nestle India, Apollo Hospitals, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance and HCLTech were among the top losers on Nifty50.
The overall market breadth was positive as 2,545 shares were advancing while 1,058 were declining on BSE.