Action in domestic equities is likely to be stock specific in the coming sessions, with several companies' Jul-Sep earnings scheduled next week. Trade will be volatile amid Dussehra holiday on Wednesday and expiry of October futures contract on Thursday. Also, outcome of the two-day European Union Summit, that ends yesterday, will provide some clues for trading next week. Caution before the summit could end prompted investors to book profits, which dragged the National Stock Exchange's 50-stock Nifty down 34.45 points or 0.6% to 5684.25. The BSE's 30-share Sensex ended at 18682.31, down 109.62 points or 0.6%. Market participants expect the Nifty to trade in the 5600-5750 range. A few have also pegged support for the index below 5600, close to 5580 points.
Companies that will report earnings over the weekend and early next week are Bajaj Auto, UltraTech Cement, Bank of Baroda, Cairn India, Idea Cellular, Housing Development Finance Corp, Larsen & Toubro, Hero MotoCorp, Lupin, Sterlite Industries, United Phosphorous, and YES Bank. Tata Consultancy Services will take cues from its quarterly earnings to be released later yesterday.
A strangle strategy is adopted by either buying or selling a call and a put option at different strike prices when high volatility is expected in the stock. L&T, that will release its quarterly earnings Monday, is seen posting a 11% on year rise in Jul-Sep net profit at 8.8 bln rupees and a 17% growth in net revenue at 131.14 bln rupees due to steady execution of orders.
