Market Headstart: Nifty likely to open gap-up; HDFC, ICICI Lombard top buys

The Nifty50 is likely to open with a gap of over 100-150 points in morning trade on Monday tracking Exit Poll results and positive trend seen in other Asian markets.

Wall Street ended lower on Friday as continuing trade tensions pulled industrial and tech shares down, and the Dow capped a fourth straight week of losses in its longest weekly losing streak in three years.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap up opening for the broader index in India, a jump of 242 points or 2.12 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,677-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

On the earnings front, as many as 86 companies will declare their results for the quarter ended March later today which include names like Astral Poly, Bharat Forge, BPCL, HEG, Jindal Stainless, Kitex Garments, Tata Motors, Torrent Pharma, United Breweries, etc. among others.

Stocks in news:

Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) has acquired 30.50 percent stake in mid-sized software services firm NIIT Technologies Ltd for about Rs 2,627 crore, a regulatory filing said on May 18.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has reported a 44 percent year-on-year jump in its Q4 FY19 net profit at Rs 434.4 crore. Revenue rose 14 percent YoY to Rs 4,016.6 crore.

Pesticides maker UPL May 17 reported a 72 percent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 206 crore for March 2019 quarter. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 737 crore in the year-ago period, the Mumbai-based firm said in a regulatory filing.

Technical Recommendations:

We spoke to Angel Broking and here's what they have to recommend:

HDFC Ltd: Buy| LTP: Rs 1993.65| Target: Rs 2040-2050| Stop Loss: Rs 1960| Upside 3%

ICICI Lombard: Buy| LTP: Rs 1120| Target: Rs 1218| Stop Loss: Rs 1064| Upside 9%

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