Stocks to buy: Raja Venkatraman recommends three stocks for today — 31 January

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Positive vibes on the broader market indices have kept their upward momentum on the last day of January expiry, with gains across the board being displayed by major indices largely riding on mixed global cues following the US Federal Reserve's decision to pause rate hikes. Market breadth was quite positive on 30 January.

Pharmaceutical company Cipla led the gains on the NSE, rising by 3%, followed by Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance and oil major ONGC. The majority of the market was bullish, barring IT and Media, allowing people to end the day with a bullish bias. However, the trends ahead remain fraught with hesitation.

A much-awaited pre-budget rally has emerged to give some hope of overhauling the much-touted important resistance zones that continue to curb the bullish sentiment. Currently, the moves emanating after testing oversold levels are looking positive. However, the intraday charts show that the value resistance zone bands are witness to many attempts to overhaul where the trends have failed.

However, one should factor that the ongoing rise is riding on very limited tailwinds, and one needs to keep booking profits. The open interest data reveals that the Put Call Ratio is holding itself at 1 in the Nifty with 23,250 as the max pain point highlighting a neutral stance ahead of the event. While the bias seems to be divided, the bearish bias at higher levels does creep in as the higher timeframes are still under pressure and there is still no clear evidence of a confident recovery.