Raja Venkatraman recommends three stocks for 9 July

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Stock market recap: Once again, the sense of confidence that we have been searching for the last few weeks disappeared swiftly. We had identified important zones and this strong breakdown seen yesterday could now result in some challenging times for the trends ahead.

Best stocks to buy today (All buy trades are rates of equity, and sell rates are based on F&O)

Oil India Ltd: Buy above ₹435 | Stop ₹415 | Target ₹475 (multiday)

Exide Industries Ltd: Buy above ₹455 | Stop ₹430 | Target ₹505 (multiday)

On 8 July 2026, Indian equities faced a sharp sell-off, with both the Sensex and the Nifty 50 tumbling over 2%, marking their second straight day of losses after a four-session rally. Renewed geopolitical tensions weighed heavily on sentiment after US President Donald Trump declared the Iran peace memorandum “over”, sparking fresh uncertainty. Brent crude surged 5.66% to $78.35 per barrel, raising concerns for India’s import bill and inflation outlook. Weak global cues added to the pressure, as Asian markets slipped and US indices closed lower overnight.

Volatility spiked sharply, with India VIX jumping nearly 30% to 15.08, signaling heightened risk perception among investors. The combination of geopolitical stress, rising oil prices, and fragile global sentiment triggered broad-based selling, dragging benchmarks into uncertain territory and eroding recent gains. The market’s sharp correction underscored investor caution ahead of earnings season and the need for fresh domestic triggers to stabilize momentum.

Markets have been quite choppy as the overall trends have been difficult to decipher. Lack of clarity forces us to resort to a limited range action. Hence, it’s best to move to a buy on dip and sell on rally approach. Sector rotation has been evident, and it is increasingly a theme one needs to operate on to capitalise on the momentum. With the US-Iran deal in sight, markets saw a fair bit of upward momentum as the dip in crude oil brought some enthusiasm to the equity markets.

However, auto, realty, and pharma stocks saw strong upside, while energy counters were disappointing as oil, which had been on the boil, began to recede. The negative fallout from these would be the refineries, while the OMCs bore the brunt of this much-awaited decision. The impact of the rise in crude oil prices will continue to affect companies that use it as an ingredient, such as paint companies. Stocks like Asian Paint have been trading lower throughout the week. The impact of war has affected the FMCG sector through price increases that were passed on to consumers; a recession of the same could soften this stance and thus lead to a possible recovery.

On the global front, we brace ourselves for how the trends will emerge as the world will react to the resolution or a possible resolution to the continuing war scenario that is making it a challenging affair.

Back home, the sharp surge saw the Nifty trend react from strong resistance around 24,500, as seen on the charts below, along with the other indices, producing a pullback. Steady profit booking soon emerged to drag down the markets swiftly lower. The main culprit was the broader indices failed to move higher and capsized quickly as negative newslfows of war seeped in.

Markets have now clearly indicated a hesitation to build on the gains made since April. The resistance levels that we had highlighted in the midweek update came into play to introduce some pullback. However, the sustained bearish bias came to the fore as the short build up in the 25,000 call strike highlighted the negative build-up.

Why it’s recommended: Oil India Ltd (OIL) is India's second-largest national upstream oil and gas company and a prestigious Maharatna Public Sector Enterprise under the ministry of petroleum and natural gas. With the rise in oil prices, the upstream companies are back in action once again. Slow and steady ...