Bulls took a day off on September 18 after a record rally through the past week on the Nifty 50 and traders showed caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meet due on September 19-20.
At 12.13pm, the Sensex was down 92.48 points or 0.14 percent at 67,746.15, and the Nifty was trading 12.80 points or 0.06 percent lower at 20,179.50.
On the options front, heavy call writing was seen across 20,200 and 20,300 strikes, suggesting multiple hurdles sitting in Nifty's way upwards. Among put options, significant open interest addition was seen across 20,150 and 20,100 strikes which indicates that these levels could provide immediate support on the downside.
Brokerage firm ShareKhan also pegged a resistance for the Nifty around 20,200 which was inherent in today's session as the index struggled to sustain above that mark on the back of some profit-taking. On the downside, the brokerage sees support coming from 20,100 and 20,000 levels.
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Overall, after the strong momentum in the recent weeks, ShareKhan expects the trend for the Nifty to remain sideways in the truncated week.
It is worth noting that the Nifty had gained around 1,000 points in a span of 10 sessions and, hence, the momentum may slow down going ahead, analysts said.
Among specific stocks, Vodafone Idea saw heavy short-buildup as open interest gained 4 percent, suggesting profit-booking in the counter after its strong haul in the past month. Syngene International, GNFC, Can Fin Homes and PVR Inox were other counters that saw addition of short positions.
On the other hand, PSU bank stocks, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda saw massive addition of long positions, in line with the bullish trend across most scrips in the sector. Dr Lal Path Labs also saw an increase in long positions following positive growth outlook from foreign brokerage UBS Securities.
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