The benchmark indices closed flat after a three-day rally. At close, the Sensex was down 17.43 points or 0.03 percent at 58279.48, and the Nifty was down 15.70 points or 0.09 percent at 17362.10. About 1296 shares have advanced, 1810 shares declined, and 137 shares are unchanged.
HDFC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 2.56 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, ITC, UltraTech Cement, Nestle India and Asian Paints. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, HCL Tech, Infosys and Tata Steel were among the laggards
"Nifty traded in a sideways trend today .It corrected today after making a new all time high of 17436. It closed at 17355 down by 25 points since yesterday's close. On hourly charts it took support at its 20 period moving average. Nifty may test its support of 17300 and 17250 in the next few days which may be good levels to enter along with strict stoploss for targets of 17420 and 17480," said Gaurav Udani, CEO & Founder, ThincRedBlu Securities
Mohit Nigam, Head-PMS, Hem Securities said, "On the technical front, the market is witnessing a continuous positive trend and it has sustained well above 17,300-350 levels and we believe this up move will extend till 17500 level in the short term. On the downside 17,100 is the immediate support in Nifty 50 followed by 16,900."
Sachin Gupta, AVP-Research, Choice Broking said, "Technically, the Index has been trading in Higher High and Higher Low formation, which suggests strength in the counter. On an Hourly Chart, the Index has been finding resistance from the upper band of Bollinger crossing above the same can show further upside movement. All the key indicators like RSI, MACD & Stochastic are supporting the positive trend in the index. At present, the psychological level of 17,500 could be a resistance while on the downside, 17,200 may act as support for the index."
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, "Nifty had a larger high-low range on Tuesday compared to the previous day. However the close was not too different. As US markets were shut on Monday, global stocks are finding it difficult to find cues and hence direction. Post resumption of US markets on Tuesday, we may see higher volatility and close on close change on Wednesday. Advance decline ratio again dipped to much below 1:1 worrying investors and dampening volumes."
After witnessing a 800 points rally, the index is exhibiting a range-bound trend, which indicates that bulls could be feeling discomfort to go further long near 17450, said Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research, Kotak Securities. "But technically, a short-term correction is possible only if the index falls below 17,290. For the next few trading sessions--17,290 could act as a trend deciding level, above which we can expect one more uptrend wave towards 17,450-17,500 levels. However, trading below the same could trigger a quick intraday correction up to 17,250-17,210."
