Closing Bell: Nifty ends Dec series on a flat note; metal, oil & gas, realty drag; IT shines

Investors preferred to stay on the sidelines. The year-end celebrative mood or hope of "Santa Claus rally" was missing with totality albeit with no conviction and limited breadth.

Cautious optimism likely to be the preferred theme at Dalal Street on hopes that the omicron COVID variant's effect on equities will ultimately be modest.

We suspect the benchmark Nifty can extend its annual "Santa Claus rally" only if investors can shrug-off Omicron as barely more than a blip on the radar.

Benchmark indices continued to trade in a narrow range on the back of thin volumes due to tepid investor activity ahead of the year-end. After a muted opening, the Nifty moved in a narrow range between 17150 to 17250. It made a couple of attempts to hold on to the higher terrain at 17250 but slipped from the level due to a lack of follow-through buying interest.

For the bulls, 17275 would be the important breakout level to watch and if the index manages to trade above the same, we can expect a quick uptrend towards 17325-17375 levels. On the flip side, trading below 17150 could trigger further weakness up to 17100-17065.

It has been quite a volatile month for Nifty, wherein Nifty fell to a low of 16,400 at the same time has also seen a high of 17,600. Currently, it looks like Nifty is going to end 1-1.5% up for the month of December.

FIIs have sold equities worth almost USD 2.7 billion in the month of December. This is the 3rd consecutive month wherein FIIs would be the net sellers. Overall, FIIs continue to be the net sellers for the entire year 2021.

Going forward, the key technical level to watch out for Nifty would be 17,600; a break of 17600 will ensure a fresh rally and a break of 16800 will ensure a fresh selling in the market. So as of now, Nifty looks to be in a range of 16800-17600.

Going forward two important things to watch out for in the market, one is the spread of the new variant Omicron and at the same time how the Fed policy panes out. The Fed has already indicated three rate hikes in 2022.

Benchmark Indices ended on a flat note today with Nifty at 17204 and Sensex at 57794. In today’s choppy session, good buying interest is seen in selected IT and pharma stocks while some selling pressure is seen in metal and real estate names.

Overall Global markets were mixed today as investors are uncertain about the consequences of surging Covid 19 cases in different parts of the world.

On the technical front, overall structure looks positive for Nifty 50 as it manages to sustain above 17200 level on a closing basis which is a positive sign for the index and we believe we can witness a 200-300 points rally from here in near term. 17000 and 17400 are immediate support and resistance in Nifty. For Bank Nifty, 34500 and 35500 are immediate support and resistance.

After a flat opening, the benchmark index traded in a narrow range ahead of weekly as well as monthly expiry.

On the technical front, the index has been trading in falling channel formation, crossing above the upper band of formation can show an upside rally in the counter. Moreover, the index has been trading above 21 & 50-HMA which suggests strength in the counter.

A momentum indicator Stochastic & MACD is trading with a positive crossover on the daily time-frame. At present, the index has support at 17000 levels while resistance comes at 17300 levels, crossing above the same can show 17400-17500 levels. On the other hand, Bank Nifty has support at 34500 levels while resistance at 35500 levels.

The markets failed to close above the 17250-17300 zone. The Nifty is in a make-or-break situation. Either we get past 17300 on a closing basis and move higher towards 17600-17800 or we make a U-turn and head southward towards 16800 which is strong support for the index. Weakness will emanate if we break 16800 on a closing basis.

Domestic bourses witnessed a choppy session lifted by gains in IT and healthcare stocks on the day of the monthly F&O expiry.

Globally, markets were mixed as investors are weighing the consequences of a third wave amid surging inflation worldwide.

Banking stocks, especially PSUs, were under pressure as RBI’s financial stability report suggested a surge in bad loans with NPA’s rising from 6.9% in September 2021 to 8.1% in September 2022 under the base case scenario.

Benchmark indices ended on flat note in the volatile session on the F&O expiry day on December 30.

At close, the Sensex was down 12.17 points or 0.02% at 57,794.32, and the Nifty was down 9.60 points or 0.06% at 17,204. About 1711 shares have advanced, 1447 shares declined, and 89 shares are unchanged.

NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Cipla, HCL Technologies and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were among the top Nifty gainers. Losers included Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel, Reliance Industries, UPL and Tata Steel.

Except IT and pharma, all other sectoral indices ended in the red, with the oil & gas, metal, realty indices down 1 percent each. BSE midcap index down 0.22 percent and the smallcap index ended flat.

The board of directors of Krebs Biochemicals at its meeting held on December 30, 2021 has approved the allotment of 1,00,00,000,
Redeemable Non-Convertible Non-Cumulative Preference Shares (RNNCPS) of Rs 100 each aggregating to Rs 100 crore, on private placement basis to M/s IPCA Laboratories Limited, a promoter group company.

Krebs Biochemicals & Industries was quoting at Rs 193.85, up Rs 32.30, or 19.99 percent on the BSE.

Diversified entity ITC Ltd on Thursday said it has collaborated with Invest India, a non-profit venture by the central government for national investment promotion and facilitation, to crowdsource innovative ideas for single-use plastic substitution and automate waste segregation.

Under the collaboration, ITC Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division (PSPD) has launched the ITC Sustainability Innovation Challenge, which would support innovative startup ideas on sustainable packaging and smart waste management solutions, the company said in a statement.

ITC was quoting at Rs 216.05, down Rs 0.70, or 0.32 percent on the BSE.