Sudarshan Sukhani's top 5 picks for today's trade

It is a kind of a dark horse. Out of five, one of them usually is because banking has been underperforming. On Wednesday, banks were lower than the broad market. However, if the market decides to stage a rally, these small public sector undertaking (PSU) banks will probably join in the party. Being relatively high beta, they will participate more.

There is a theme, something is going on in pharma, and this stock is making new highs and building on that. The same is happening we saw with Dr Reddy which was the choice earlier. So Cipla is also a buying opportunity and in a flat market you have to go to these stocks which usually are not momentum stocks. So it makes sense to go in for Cipla. One can buy it at the current prices and keep a stop at Rs 302. Again a target of Rs 330 is visible. Sometimes if we have a market like we saw on Wednesday, the targets may not be achieved today but they should come if the momentum is fair.

ITC is a buy this morning with some gains yesterday. Again they should be built on those gains. When the markets are flat relatively, these are the stocks that should give us something to play on, to trade on. ITC is a buying opportunity with a stop loss at Rs 254 and a modest target at Rs 266. However, ITC is slow and steady. It is not fast, it is not a momentum player but it is slowly moving up the ladder, Rs 1 now and Rs 2 there, slowly going up. I think ITC is a good stock to own.

Rallis is a good share to own. For the short-term, it has rallied. It seems that the rally will continue for a longer-term and for a swing trader. You can buy this share on dips with a stop loss at Rs 860 and target of Rs 1,000. For the day trader, you take whatever you get in the day. However, you might like to keep it till the close.

Ranbaxy has been in a roll after that big decline. It has rallied significantly from more than Rs 250. Yesterday, it built on some gains even though the markets are flat. I think that should continue today. The stock has broken out decisively over Rs 400 range. So Ranbaxy is a buying opportunity. One should keep a stop loss at Rs 410. For a positional short-term swing trader, you can look at Rs 460. For somebody who is trading for a day take whatever gains come, one can actually hold the stock.

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