After a gap-up opening index made an intraday high at 17,442.90 level but showed profitbooking from the top and closed the session with a loss of 17.60 points. The benchmark Sensex ended 104 points lower. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended in the red Bank index slipped 1 per cent, while Power index gained nearly 2 per cent.
At close, the Sensex was down 104.67 points or 0.18 percent at 57,892.01. The broader Nifty was down 17.60 points or 0.10 percent at 17,304.60. About 1,241 shares have advanced, 2,042 shares declined, and 100 shares are unchanged.
Out of Nifty50, 30 stocks closed in red, indicating broad-based selling. On the sectoral front, Nifty Energy was the top gainer while Nifty Bank was a prime loser. Among top Nifty losers were ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank and UPL. The gainers included Tata Consumer Products, ONGC, HDFC, Reliance Industries and HDFC Life.
On the technical front, the index has been trading with lower highs and lower lows which points out a weakness for an upcoming session, said Palak Kothari, Research Associate, Choice Broking. Furthermore, the index has traded below the middle band of Bollinger which suggests downside movement in the counter. On a daily chart, the index has been trading below 21*50-DMA with the negative crossover which suggests weakness for the next session. Moreover, the daily momentum indicator Stochastic and MACD were also trading with a negative crossover which adds weakness in prices. At present, the index has support at 17,130 levels breaching below the same can show further downside till 17,000-16,800 levels while resistance comes at 17,500 levels. On the other hand, Bank Nifty has support at 36,800 levels while resistance at 38,500 levels.
Markets remained volatile but moved in a range during the session, as the haze over Russia-Ukraine conflict and subsequent volatility in crude prices is keeping investors on tenterhooks. Also, all eyes are on the upcoming mega IPO of LIC, which traders fear could result in further redemption from local equities in the near term, said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd. For the bulls, the intraday breakout level would be 17450 and above the same, the index could rally till 17,500-17,575. On the flip side, trading below 17,200 could trigger further weakness up to 17,140-17,110.
Volumes on NSE in cash market lowest for CY 2022
Markets kept on vacillating near the previous session’s close throughout the day. Many attempts were made by the bulls to take it higher past yesterday’s close into positive territory, buy all were futile and markets eventually closed in the red territory, said Devarsh Vakil – Deputy Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities. Volumes on the NSE in cash market were dismal and were lowest for the calendar year 2022. As it was a weekly expiry day, derivative markets were buzzing with activity and they clocked an all-time high turnover today. Outcome of state elections and fears of interest rate hikes in India and abroad continue to plague the sentiments. 17491-17554 could continue to be a resistance for the Nifty while 17,214 could be the support.
Technically speaking, the biggest make-or-break support for Nifty is seen at 17077 mark and below the same expect waterfall of selling which could take Nifty down to 16837 mark and then finally to 16410 mark, said Prashanth Tapse, Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.
US markets futures decline
US markets futures which were trotting along in the positive territory fell suddenly by half a percent during the day on reports of skirmish between Russia and Ukrain. Nifty ran into selling pressure at higher levels on a day when most other Asian indices were trading in the green, said Vakil.
WTI crude oil fell 2 percent and was trading near $ 91.6 per barrel.
FIIs net sellers in capital market
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,890.96 crore, according to stock exchange data.
Asia markets end higher
Asian markets ended mostly higher in line with positive Wall Street after Federal Reserve policymakers indicated they are leaning toward more decisive action on inflation but set no firm targets.
