Sensex, Nifty see profit-booking for 2nd day; Q3 results, FOMC minutes next trigger

The next trigger for markets will be upcoming FOMC minutes, which will give direction to interest rate trajectory for traders

Investors continued to book profits on January 3 as S&P BSE Sensex dropped over 350 points and the NSE Nifty 50 lost over 100 points soon after opening. At 10:30am, the Sensex was trading at 71,525 and the Nifty 50 at 21,556. Market watchers expect this correction to continue in the next few days which, in turn, will make the overall breadth 'healthy' after seeing non-stop record runs.

"These twin moves of profit-booking and dip-buying will keep the market highly volatile in the near-term," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The next trigger for markets will be the FOMC minutes, which will give direction to interest rate trajectory for traders. Also, the October-December quarter (Q3FY24) results will dictate market movements further, said analysts.

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Sameet Chavan, technical analyst at Angel One, sees some consolidation till the FOMC minutes is released. "The Nifty could see a strong support near 21,500, with an immediate resistance placed near 21,800-21,850," he said.

Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services, too, echoed the view. The favoured view expects bears to regroup, as long upswings are held below 21,693 or 21,740, he said.

Broader indices too traded in the negative territory on January 3 morning deals. The Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 indices slipped up to 0.09 percent, as of 10:30am.

Sectorally, defensives were the market flavour on Wednesday. The Nifty FMCG and Pharma indices gained 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent. On the flipside, the Nifty IT index was the worst performer, declining over 2 percent in trade. Joining this trend, Metal and Auto indices were other top losers.

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Overall, analysts believe that any breather ahead of the Q3 results should be considered as a buying opportunity, instead of a negative trend. Analysts at ICICI Securities, for instance, shared a positive bias on the market trend.

"We believe that the revival of upward momentum in the financial and IT sector, which carries 50 percent weightage in the Nifty, provides impetus for extension of ongoing up-move. Moreover, the global market setup is supportive as the US and European indices come out of two years of consolidation. Additionally, declining yields, and stable currency, along with strong institutional flows would act as tailwinds," they said in a morning note.