Stocks to buy: Raja Venkatraman's top picks for 29 October
Market expert Raja Venkatraman shares his top three stock picks to buy today, 29 October. Discover his exclusive picks and analysis to inform your investment strategy.
The market continues to struggle ahead of the FOMC meeting, which is keeping the revival on tenterhooks. After a positive start seen last week, the trends have failed to head higher. This was a positive trigger that encouraged the market participants; however, hesitation continues to weigh on the sentiment, which is clearly getting divided.
Three stocks to trade as recommended by Raja Venkatraman of NeoTrader for today:
Union Bank of India Ltd: Buy above ₹147 | Stop ₹143 | Target ₹154 (multiday)
Laurus Labs Ltd: Buy above ₹965 | Stop ₹940 | Target ₹1,000 (intraday)
Bandhan Bank Ltd: Buy above ₹176 | Stop ₹172 | Target ₹181 (intraday)
Stock market update
On 28 October 2025, the NSE Nifty staged a partial recovery after early losses, closing marginally lower amid volatility and sectoral divergence.
Equity benchmark indices witnessed a choppy session on Tuesday, with the Nifty slipping to an intraday low of 25,826.15 before rebounding to close at 25,936.20, down 29.85 points or 0.11%. The recovery was driven by optimism surrounding a potential US–China trade framework and expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate cut. Metal stocks led the gains, buoyed by global cues, while PSU banks advanced on reports of a possible hike in the FII investment ceiling.
Among the top performers in the Nifty 50 pack were Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SBI Life Insurance, HDFC Life, and L&T. In contrast, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, ONGC, and Trent were notable laggards. Broader markets remained flat, with mid-cap and small-cap indices showing limited movement. Sectorally, metal and PSU banks rose over 1%, while IT, pharma, FMCG, and realty declined.
Outlook for trading
Market continues to struggle ahead of the FOMC meeting on 28-29 October, which is keeping the revival on tenterhooks. After a positive start seen last week, the trends have failed to head higher. This was a positive trigger that encouraged the market participants; however, hesitation continues to weigh on the sentiment, which is clearly getting divided.
After a steady rise, which continued despite some rest from geopolitical tensions, the market appears poised for bullish moves to sustain. However, the rise seen this week indicates that the Nifty, after spending some time at lower levels, could sustain the momentum. The revival seen this week has clearly confirmed that over the last few days, the Nifty has managed to hold on and not give up, as the overall sentiment continues to favour buyers.
As we can note on the charts, the markets moved very much in line to challenge the resistance zone highlighted yesterday and move higher. On the charts, we note that the supply zone has been broken, and the potential for further movement higher has gained more strength. Taking some cues from the Option data, we can add that the higher levels around 25,800-25,900, which had steady Call writers, have assembled. Now, if the buying steps up there, there is some OI to curtail the positive bias.
The emerging trend clearly suggests that the dips seen last week managed to hold the support zone, while an attempt is being made to ensure that prices trade above the range area highlighted on the chart below, which developed over the last few days. Hence, one should track the trends that are in progress, as the Nifty Spot has moved significantly above 25,700, maintaining a bullish bias. Momentums on hourly charts are indicating that the prices are taking a breather as selling pressure has receded for now. With the gradual and hesitant rise emerging from lower levels we can expect the rise to remain hesitant.
As we await the outcome of the event, we are now examining how the trends will unfold and how we should plan for the road ahead. Looking at the recent move in the Nifty, the immediate resistance as per the Open Interest data is emerging at 25,900 to 26,000, which continues to hold back any recovery in the next two days.
If we witness a 30-minute range breakdown on Wednesday we can consider to trade to the downside as the trends still remain tentative at higher levels where we expect some resistances to kick in. We are entering a phase where we can expect some volatile scenario to kick in.
Three stocks to trade, recommended by NeoTrader’s Raja Venkatraman:
UNIONBANK (Cmp 147.07)
UNIONBANK: Buy above ₹147, stop ₹143 target ₹156 (Multiday)
Why it’s recommended: After spending lot of time in consolidation the trends at the moment in this counter has now come out of its recent challenge. With a strong thrust above the cloud the prices are hinting at some possible upside in the counter. After generating some support around 141 region the prices are steadily heading higher. Post surpassing this level the rise in momentum supported by steady volumes are highlighting possibility of more upward traction.
Key metrics:
P/E: 6.09,
52-week high: ₹158.60,
Volume: 15.19M.
Technical analysis: Support at ₹139, resistance at ₹155.
Risk factors: Interest rate fluctuations and equity market volatility due to geopolitical news could impact returns.
Buy at: above ₹147.
Target price: ₹156 in 1 month.
Stop loss: ₹143.
LAURUSLABS (Cmp 959.65)
LAURUSLABS: Buy above ₹965, stop ₹940 target ₹1000 (Intraday)
Why it’s recommended: Laurus Labs is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company headquartered in Hyderabad. The stock has been forming steady rounding pattern at higher levels finding some strong supports at the TS & KS levels to head higher. With some revival seen in the last two days one can look at going long at current levels and also on dips.
Key metrics:
P/E: 75.87,
52-week high: ₹962.70
Volume: 2.72M.
Technical analysis: Support at ₹915, resistance at ₹1050.
Risk factors: ARV business volatility, increased operational expenses, and potentially foreign exchange impacts.
Buy at: above ₹965.
Target price: ₹1000.
Stop loss: ₹940.
BANDHANBNK (Cmp ₹175.62)
Why it’s recommended: The stock that had been under selling pressure and was seen tiring out. Now, with the prices witnessing some tailwind for some upward bounce, we can look to participate. The push above the cloud bodes well for prices, as steady demand is emerging at lower levels. Ahead of Q2 results, the strong upward move in prices is signalling the possibility of more upward traction. Buy.
Key metrics:
P/E: 13.78,
52-week high: ₹192.45,
Volume: 7.62M.
Technical analysis: Support at ₹340, resistance at ₹425.
Risk factors: Volatility of raw material prices, intense competition, high debt levels, and the execution risk associated with its capital expenditure plans.
Buy at: Above ₹176.
Target price: ₹181 in 1 month.
Stop loss: ₹172.
Raja Venkatraman is co-founder, NeoTrader. His Sebi-registered research analyst registration no. is INH000016223.
Investments in securities are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing. Registration granted by Sebi and certification from NISM in no way guarantees performance of the intermediary or provide any assurance of returns to investors.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
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