Stocks to buy today: M&M, ONGC, PVR, Axis Bank, Sona BLW among 20 shares for profitable trade on August 19

Stock markets extended their rally for the eighth straight session on Thursday. The benchmark indices – Sensex and Nifty50 – ended with marginal gains. While Sensex ended 37.87 points or 0.06 per cent up at 60,298.00, Nifty ended 12.25 points or 0.07 per cent higher at 17,956.50. 

Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel and Ultratech Cement, among others, were the major gainers on the BSE. About 1,900 shares advanced, 1,494 shares declined, while 146 shares remained unchanged on Thursday.

The SGX Nifty, which indicates opening trends of the Indian market, was trading lower by around 23 points on the Singaporean exchange on Friday morning.  

The global markets, especially the US indices, closed marginally higher with S&P 500 and Nasdaq each ending over 0.2 per cent on Thursday. The Asian markets were trading mixed with Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng in the green and China’s Shanghai in red on Friday morning.  

As per Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking, “We are in the fifth successive week of advance and rotational buying across sectors helping the index maintain the prevailing trend. We’re eyeing 18,100 in Nifty and reiterate our view to continue with the ‘buy on dips’ approach.” Mishra added that participants should focus more on stock selection after the recent surge and focus more on the sectors/stocks which are trading in sync with the benchmark instead of focusing on laggards. 

Meanwhile, Zee Business brings you a list of 20 stocks from cash, techno and F&O space. These stocks have been picked keeping in view investors' short-to-long term requirements. The list also comprises intraday calls for good returns on a given day. Below is the list of stocks. 

Stocks recommended by Kushal Gupta  

Cash: NHPC - Buy - Price Target - 35.7, SL - 34 

FTR: ONGC - Buy - Price Target - 140, SL - 132 

OPTN: ICICI Bank - Buy 890 CE 11 - Price Target - 21, SL - 7 

Techno: Apollo Tyres - Buy - Price Target 275, SL - 263 

Funda: Sona BLW Precision - Buy - Price Target 650, Duration -12 Months  

Invest: M&M - Buy - Parice Target 1500, Duration - 12 Months  

News: Greenpanel Ind - Buy - Price Target - 462, SL - 445 

Mychoice 

GMDC - Buy - Price Target 181, SL - 173 

Hero Motocorp - Buy - Price Target 3500, 12 Months 

Tata Chem - Buy - Price Target 1155, SL - 1100 

Best Pick: M&M - Buy - Price Target 1500, Duration - 1 year 

------------------------------------------------ 

Stocks recommended by Varun Dubey  

Cash: Buy Solara Active Target Rs 460 SL RS 430 

Futures: Sell Metropolis Target Rs 1410 SL RS 1480 

Options: Buy Vedanta 270 CE Target Rs 7 SL RS 4 

Invest: Buy AU Small Finance Bank Target Rs 750 DUration 6 Months 

Tech: Sell PVR FUT Target Rs 1870 SL RS 1950 

Funda: Buy Axis Bank Target Rs 785 SL Rs 755 

Invest: BUY AU Small Finance Bank TARGET 750, DURATION 6 MONTHS 

News: Buy Apcotex Target Rs 585 SL RS 552 

My Choice: 

Buy Indian Hotels Target Rs 285 SL RS 250 

Buy Kotak Bank Target Rs 1960 SL RS 1875 

Sell Bharat Forge FUT Target Rs 730 SL RS 762 

Best Pick: Buy Axis Bank Target Rs 785 SL Rs 755