HRITIK led the Nifty rally this year, will it be SALMAN next?

Leading a Nifty rally, three among these advanced 38 to 50 per cent in the last one year. Market participants are now guessing who would be the next set of stocks leading the rally.

A section of traders is betting on SALMAN -- SBI, Axis Bank, Larsen and Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, Adani Ports and National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) -- to lead the next rally.

The Brokerages have maintained 'BUY' on SBI, betting on a recovery in India's growth momentum. Nomura had said SBI's Q2 asset quality beat its estimates. SBI gained over 12 per cent in the past one year, and closed on Friday at Rs 337.25 a share.

The asset quality of the bank improved with gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio coming in at 7.19 per cent, down 276 bps yearly and 34 bps sequentially.

Axis Bank, has also been traders and brokerages favourite. The index heavyweight along with RIL, ICICI Bank and HDFC were the preferred pick by the brokerage house CLSA. The bank had reported a consolidated Interest Income of Rs 12,183.88 crore, up 3.89 per cent from last quarter. Axis Bank has gained over 15 per cent in the last one year and closed at Rs 739 a piece.

The NTPC has also been on the rise after the foreign financial firm Morgan Stanley upgraded the company's shares to 'Overweight' from 'Equal-Weight' earlier. This came on the back of the government's decision to approve strategic disinvestment in the power major.

It had, however, fallen 23.53 per cent in the last one year and closed at Rs 114.55 a share on Friday.

JPMorgan had recently reiterated 'overweight' rating on Maruti Suzuki and also raised its target price. The largest car manufacturer in India has, however, declined 8.58 per cent in the last one year and closed at Rs 7,255 a share.

Larsen and Toubro had recently downgraded by Credit Suisse to 'neutral' from outperform and revised target price down to Rs 1460 from Rs 1750. The brokerage has downgraded the stock as macro continues to remain hostile in terms of gap in government finances from tax shortfall and continuing credit growth deceleration.

It has fallen 8.64 per cent in the past year and closed at Rs 1,310.75 a share.

Global brokerage houses are also bullish on Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone despite its quarterly results falling short of market expectations. Macquarie has also raised its target price on Adani. Adani Ports lost a little over one per cent in the last one year of trade and closed at Rs 371.65 a share on Friday.