The benchmark indices ended marginally lower ahead of crucial FOMC meeting outcome on Wednesday (September 22) night. At close, the Sensex was down 77.94 points or 0.13 percent at 58,927.33, and the Nifty was down 15.30 points or 0.09 percent at 17,546.70. About 2047 shares have advanced, 1113 shares declined, and 162 shares are unchanged.
HDFC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 1 per cent, followed by Nestle India, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, M&M, HCL Tech and Bajaj Auto were among the gainers.
"Nifty traded in a small range of 100 points today. It closed at 17,546, down by 15 points since yesterday's close. It was unable to break its resistance of 17,650.Nifty may see some consolidation between 17,650 and 17,250 for the next few trading sessions. New longs can be initiated on a closing above 17,650 with higher than average volumes. Overall trend in Nifty remains bullish as long as it trades above 17250," said Gaurav Udani, CEO & Founder, ThincRedBlu Securities.
Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research- Derivatives at Kotak Securities, said, "Nifty remains in a medium-term uptrend for targets of 18,000 and above; any meaningful correction is a good opportunity to buy. Support for the September series is seen at 17,325 while resistance is expected at 17,600-17,700 levels. Breach of 17,325 on the closing basis is expected to result in selling pressure to sub 17,000 levels. Auto and Energy stocks trade with a positive bias while Metals are expected to consolidate before resuming uptrend."
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said, "The intraday trading set up suggests 17,600-17,625 levels would act as a key resistance level for the day traders and below the same a quick intraday correction till 17,500-17,450 is not ruled out. On the flip side, 17,625 could be the range breakout level for the day traders and above the same the breakout continuation formation is likely to continue up to 17,665-17,700-17,725 levels."
