Indian stocks ended little changed on Wednesday, tracking Asian peers amid worries over a delay in rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. The S&P BSE Sensex closed 0.04% lower at 73,876, while the NSE Nifty50 index ended below the 22,450 level."The near-term uptrend of Nifty remains intact and a decisive move above 22,550 is likely to pull Nifty towards the next crucial hurdle of 22,800 levels in a quick period. Immediate support is at 22,300 levels," said Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities. Here are 5 stock recommendations for Thursday:

Some of the world's ultra-wealthy spend their money on luxury goods such as fine wine or one-of-a-kind art pieces as a passion, but others consider them investments — and their returns do often pay off.Over the past 10 years, rare whisky has been the best-performing luxury asset, appreciating 280% and even besting the S&P 500's gains. Here’s how luxury goods have performed over 10 years relative to the S&P 500. (Source: TOI)

Long unwinding refers to the selling of positions or stocks owned for a longer period either to book profit or to exit it in anticipation of impending bearishness. In Wednesday's trading session, five stocks witnessed a top long unwinding. Here's the list:

Sensex and Nifty settled lower for the second straight session on Wednesday. Sensex declined by 27 points. Nifty holds 22,400 level. Sectorally, buying was seen in utilities, power, public sector and IT stocks while realty, auto, and FMCG stocks saw some selling pressure.

The Nifty 50 ended on a flat note after a volatile session on Wednesday as mixed cues from global markets triggered profit booking. Rollover of positions to the May derivative series ahead of the expiry of the April series added to the volatility.

Short covering refers to the buying of shares to close an existing short position or a position that has been sold. Short covering signals a shift in view on a security from extreme bearishness to bullishness. In Wednesday's trading session, five stocks saw top short covering. Here's the list:

From BigBasket to Tata Housing, Tata Group is all set to launch an array of IPOs soon. Tata Group has been aggressively looking to scale up in new-age sectors like digital, semiconductors, EV batteries etc.

Shareholders of telecom company Vodafone Idea (Vi) have voted in favour of its proposal to raise Rs 20,000 crore through equity and equity-linked instruments. The results of the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) were announced on Wednesday.

Knowing what is risky and managing those risks are two different things. Knowing risk is easy, but managing the risk is more complicated than it appears. If one has not learnt this lesson in the month of March, then probably he or she needs to seriously think about whether they should invest in stocks or not. At the start of March it was well known that valuations are high so it is risky to invest in small caps. But when the fall happened, how many were able to manage the risk of investing in small caps by hedging with selling nifty futures or any other way. Probably, not many. The fact is that the old theory of taking a short position in nifty futures or buy put options to hedge your portfolio works in large caps that too only if your portfolio selects large caps. In case of small caps, the only way to manage risk is to avoid the risk by not buying bad quality stocks which are flying high due to a narrative on the street.

Nestle India was the top Sensex laggard, falling 2.6% on worries over earnings growth in the sector. NTPC, Tech Mahindra, TCS, and Bharti Airtel ended with gains.

The index is extending a rally that followed a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund signed in March which, if cleared by the global lender's board, will release about $1.1 billion to the struggling South Asian nation.

Jindal Stainless on Wednesday said it aims to complete divestment of its entire 26 per cent stake in Jindal Coke by September this year.

Shares of TCS and HCLTech have been upgraded to “underperform” from “sell”. For TCS, the price target has been increased to Rs 4,043 from Rs 3,925, and for HCLTech, it has been raised marginally to Rs 1,553 from Rs 1,536.

It took 36 years for India’s largest cement company to take its capacity to 100 million tons.To build the next 50 million tons capacity it took just 5 years. This probably sums up many things as far as the cement industry is concerned and to some extent the Indian economy. Whether it was a change in the demand matrix, which made this company push its capacity so high in a short span of time. Also it is an indication of a trend of lower cost of capital which is the biggest enabler for economic growth. On the other side the sector keeps getting hit with seasonal headwinds, like rise in oil price or floods which led to lower demand in some regions some times. But this time, for a change, even the headwinds are turning to be short lived. The biggest change being the fact that the industry has seen an uptick in prices even when new capacities have come up.

Passive investment evolved with smart beta bridges gap between passive and active funds. Smart beta selects stocks based on factors, not just market cap. It complements broad-based and active funds, targeting specific risk-return profiles for investors.

Nifty is currently trading at a 12-month forward PE of 19.4x versus LPA of 20.3x. Motilal Oswal selects 11 largecap stocks as its top ideas, Of these two are non-Nifty players

Shares of Vodafone Idea jumped nearly 4% on Wednesday to hit the day's high of Rs 13.95 on the NSE after the telecom operator informed about getting shareholders’ consent for its proposal to raise Rs 20,000 crore through a combination of equity and equity-linked securities.

Pakistan's benchmark share index hit a record high, up 1.2% during intraday trade, data from the Pakistan Stock Exchange Website showed.

Cochin Shipyard also hit its 52-week high of Rs 1,062 on the NSE, gaining 8% in the intraday trade. Garden Reach Shipbuilders shares remained unbeaten over the past three sessions, extending gains to 18%.

Dixon Technologies doubled investors’ wealth in FY24 and may continue its rally. Traders advised to target Rs 8,000. Stock hit a record high of Rs 7,624. Momentum and indicators support further upside potential.

On February 27, the company’s board approved the proposed fundraising plan. ​​With shareholders’ approval in place, the company expects to complete the equity fund raise in the current quarter.

One sector where the street has been giving differential treatment for many years has been the banking space. Private banks were preferred over their PSU counterparts. But three years back, things started to change. Much loved private sector banks started to stagnate, both in terms of absolute price movement and also in valuations. It was not that immediately the PSU banks came into limelight, there was a phase of more than a year when both private and public sector banks were ignored. But then a year back it was PSU banks which got into limelight and since then have been doing well. But as they say, any kind of bias dont go away easily. Analysts estimates for next year's upside potential are far higher for private sector banks as compared to PSU banks. Possibly they are taking into account the fact that when the capex cycle takes upturn, which it has, PSU banks are much more likely to benefit as they have balance size and more importantly the mind set for that kind of lending.

Indian shares were muted on Wednesday, caught up in the Asia-wide weakness on rising concerns that the Federal Reserve may delay lowering interest rates and as consumer stocks declined. Nevertheless, in today's trading session, six stocks from the Nifty200 index reached new 52-week highs. Here's the list:

​JSW Energy shares rose nearly 3% to hit a 52-week high of Rs 558 in Wednesday's trade on BSE after the firm said it plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore by selling shares to high net worth investors through a qualified institutional placement process or QIP.

​Shares of Gensol Engineering jumped 5 per cent in the morning session on Wednesday to hit the maximum permissible limit for the day, after the company said it has recorded the highest-ever revenue of Rs 960 crore in FY24.

Japan's Nikkei share average dropped 1% on Wednesday, weighed down by a fall in heavyweight Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo store chain, and overnight declines on Wall Street.

A nine-day rally in the Nifty Smallcap 250 index has put it on track to reclaim the level last seen on February 27 when Sebi's warning caused the bulls to hit a bump.

SRF's earnings challenges are expected to recover in Q4 FY24 with growth forecasted in fluorochemicals and refrigerant gasses demand. Sandeep Raina from Nuvama predicts a positive outlook for the stock.

A long buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with an increase in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. The long buildup is the occurrence of a long (buying) trend in the share market. In Wednesday's trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh long positions. Here's the list:

A short buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with a decrease in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. Short buildup means more people are expecting the prices to go down and creating short positions. In Wednesday’s trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh short positions. Here's the list:

​The shares of Blue Pebble debuted on the NSE SME platform with a premium of 18.45%. The stock was listed at Rs 199 apiece, compared with an offer price of Rs 168.

Vruddhi Engineering Works debuts at 1.4% premium over IPO price on BSE SME platform. There was no GMP pre-debut. The company's IPO was oversubscribed 12 times.

​Shares of National Aluminium Company (NALCO) jumped over 5% in Wednesday's early trade to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 174.70 on the NSE after the state miner reported its highest-ever cast metal production at 463,428 metric tonnes for the financial year that ended on March 31, 2024.

RBI's MPC is expected to maintain 6.5% repo rate amid inflation above 4%. Shift to 'neutral' stance is possible. GDP growth strong, rate cuts unlikely.

SRF’s chemicals business faced challenges in the last few quarters amid a seasonal dip in demand for refrigerants and inventory destocking in agrochemicals. However, earnings downcycle has bottomed out, and the company should start seeing a recovery in the ensuing quarters, says Sandeep Raina of Nuvama Professional Clients Group.

GConnect Logitech debuted on BSE SME with a 5% premium at Rs 42. The company offers logistics services like bulk load, FTL. E-commerce boosts sector. For the six months ended September 2023, the firm recorded Rs 2.12 crore revenue, Rs 23 lakh profit.

ETMarkets' analysis reveals the underperformance of jewellery stocks amidst gold's record highs. Most saw negative returns, with a few exceptions. Experts suggest cautious investment strategies with focus on companies' fundamentals and long-term prospects.

SRM Contractors had a positive debut on BSE and NSE. Analysts praised the company's project control, financial performance, and focus on infrastructure projects in Jammu and Kashmir.

Aspire and Innovative Advertising debut on NSE SME with 4.6% premium. Aspire opens at Rs 56.5. The company is engaged in the business of trading a wide range of consumer durables.

A host of brokerages have downgraded the target prices of several stocks in the last one month. Trendlyne data shows that 8 stocks, including HDFC Bank, SBI Card, Bajaj Finance, and Polycab India faced up to five analysts' target price downgrades in the last 1 month. Here is the list of these stocks and their revised target prices:

Nomura maintained a reduce rating on M&M Finance with a target of Rs 240. Disbursement growth moderated further while the business asset growth remained healthy.

Nifty opened flat and then rose for a while. But it closed with a small loss.

An initial public offer of a company backed by well-tracked market investor Vijay Kedia is garnering strong demand on Dalal Street. The mad rush for the IPO is visible in the subscription numbers. The 4-day IPO, which closed on April 2, was subscribed a whopping XX times. The company in question is TAC Infosec. Here's all you need to know.

All three major Wall Street stock indices dropped about 1% overnight, while 10-year treasury yields hit a four-month high after data signalling steady labour demand added to concerns of a potential delay in the Fed's rate cut.

Here's what Viral Chheda, Sr Technical Analyst, SSJ Finance & Securities, recommends investors should do with these stocks when the market resumes trading today.

Markets are also pondering the risk of slower rate cuts ahead of U.S. data and an appearance by the world's most powerful central banker later in the day. Oil extended its ascent, while gold prices hit another a record high.

"The narrative of 'higher for longer' is coming back into play despite the fact that the Fed does see a rate cut sometime this year. So this has got the market worried," said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"After the strong move seen in the previous session, we expect the market to consolidate over the next few days keeping various key events in mind," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal.

“Tejas Networks Ltd stock has shown strong signs of bouncing back after finding support at its previous low. Traders can buy for a target of Rs 740-800 in the next 3-4 weeks,” KKunal V Parar, Vice-President of Technical Research and Algo, Choice Broking, said.

The country’s largest producer of cement can now produce as much as 150% of cement produced in US, while equaling four-fifth of the total production of cement in Europe.