Late Selling Drags Nifty Over 200 Points from Day's High; Ends Flat

Mr. Nandish Shah - Deputy Vice President, HDFC Securities

Nifty extended its gains for the second consecutive session, rising 34 points to close at 24,056. The index opened with a strong gap-up of over 100 points and built on the momentum in the first half, touching an intraday high of 24,261. However, profit booking in the latter half dragged the index down by more than 200 points from the day's high, as traders turned cautious ahead of the extended weekend, leading to a near-flat close. NSE cash market volumes were higher by 11% compared to previous trading session. On a weekly basis, Nifty marked its third consecutive week of gains, ending marginally higher by 0.14%.

Within the Nifty pack, Indigo, M&M, and Maruti led the gains, while ONGC, Hindalco, and Power Grid emerged as key laggards.

Sectoral performance remained a mixed bag. Auto, FMCG, and Realty posted the strongest gains, whereas Metal, Oil & Gas, and IT indices bore the brunt of selling pressure and ended in the red.

Broader markets underperformed the benchmarks and bucked the overall trend, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 declining 0.5% each. Market breadth weakened significantly, as reflected in the BSE advance-decline ratio slipping to 0.65, indicating a clear bias toward declining stocks.

The rupee appreciated for the second consecutive session, gaining 28 paise to close at 94.39. The move was supported by a sharp decline in global crude oil prices, falling to pre-February 28 levels before the conflict escalation, and likely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Technically, Nifty has still not been able to overcome the crucial resistance at the previous swing high of 24,190 on closing basis. The day's high of 24,261 now emerges as an immediate short-term resistance, and a sustained breakout above this level could pave the way toward the 200-day DEMA, currently placed near 24,440. On the downside, the recent swing low of 23,789 is expected to act as key support.

Source : Equity Bulls

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