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Moneycontrol Bureau

It seems that the Indian market is just refusing to go down. The Nifty consolidated in the range of 5,300-5,400 for the sixth consecutive session.

The market started the week on a quiet note. It went through a weakish patch before stabilising, taking a cue from strong European markets.

The Nifty closed flat just about short of the 5,400 mark. The Sensex too gained 24 points to shut at 17,772.

Generally, consolidation leads to either market breaking on the upside or downside. Most of the experts are betting on the latter outcome- a correction. 

Experts believe that the Nifty is overdue for a correction, if not correction, then atleast a pause. They advise investors to book profits.

Sushil Kedia, president of ATMA expects a correction as early as tomorrow. "I think tomorrow or day after you should see the correction setting in. In the last four days, on Nifty, we have seen sideways move within a 100-point band. The market is quite likely to get into a correction that has not come for quite some time," he adds.

Although the market is seeing signs of consolidations, Ambareesh Baliga, COO of Way2Wealth still feels that a correction is overdue. However, he says, the market could surprise by breaking out on the top. He advises investors to lighten their portfolio. "It is also possible that markets could surprise on the bottom and may not actually hold on to the 5,200 levels," he warns.

Anand Tandon, chief executive officer of JRG Securities holds a similar view. He expects the market to pause now. "Interest has certainly perked up quite a bit and momentum also seems to be looking for sector rotation kind of opportunities. But given the fact that the index has had an excellent run so far, I wouldn't be surprise, if it does pause, atleast at the headline level for a little while. I think that would be quite healthy," he explains.

Also read: Markets need to go past highs to provoke any fresh buying, says NAB 

However, on a positive note, Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com expects the Nifty to see 5,430. "We have initiated a limited quantity in long positions in the Nifty assuming that sooner or later the 5,430 level would be broken. We are going to look at the breakout on the upside. If the Nifty slides below 5,350 again, we will quickly close those positions. Till then, we will maintain them," he adds.

On the other hand, Saurabh Mukherjea, head of equities at Ambit Capital says, the market will continue to grind up this month. According to him, the problems will kick-in in March. "March is going to be far choppier. So, if you are a speculator, if you have short-term profits in mind, I don't think you will have that many problems in February. March is a month of pain," he asserts.

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There is a famous saying, "No one can predict market accurately." However, after the recent run up, being cautious would be a prudent approach.

Vini Amesar.
vini.amesar@network18online.com