Closing Bell: Market ends marginally lower amid volatility; FMCG gains, realty, PSU Bank drag

Markets traded highly volatile in a range and ended almost unchanged, taking a breather after Tuesday’s surge. Initially, supportive global cues led to a positive start however profit taking in select heavyweights trimmed all the gains. Finally, the Nifty ended on a flat note at 16,240 levels. Meanwhile, the movement on the broader front kept the participants busy. Amongst the sectors, all the other indices, barring FMCG and pharma, ended in the red.

The recent rebound in the global indices is certainly comforting however the lingering geopolitical and inflation worries are still keeping the participants on the edge. Meanwhile, the lack of any positive trigger from the domestic front is further weighing on sentiment. Amid all, the scheduled weekly expiry would keep the volatility high on Thursday. We thus recommend continuing with a cautious stance, with a focus on overnight risk management.

The Nifty opened on a positive note & attempted to continue with the positive momentum. On the higher side, however, it stumbled near 16400 where it attracted some profit booking. The internal structure of the recent rise shows that today’s negative close is a minor pause & the short term pullback is still intact.

The index is expected to witness fresh buying support near 16200. Thus, this minor degree dip can be taken as a fresh buying opportunity from short term trading perspective.

On the higher side, the short term target is pegged at 16500. The level of 16000 will act as a support for the short term.

Nifty found resistance at the crucial resistance at 16400 and slipped below before closing with a marginal loss. On the daily chart, the index remained well below the short-term moving average. The daily RSI is in the bullish crossover.

The trend is likely to remain sideward over the near term. The resistance on the higher end is placed at 16400. On the lower end, support is visible at 16000.

The sharp rally in the previous session failed to add fizz in today's trades, as the market did not capitalise on the firm start and rather turned range-bound to end marginally lower.

The rampant FII selling has been weighing on investors' minds, and worries about subdued growth going ahead due to rising interest rates is hurting the sentiment.

On daily charts, the Nifty has formed a small bearish hammer kind of candlestick formation, which indicates a range bound activity in the near future.

For day traders, 16200-16150 levels would act as key support zones. Above the same, the index could move up to 16400-16450. On the flip side, below 16150, uptrends could be vulnerable and could retest the level of 16050-16000.

With the support from Pharma and FMCG stocks, the domestic market had a steady run until the weak opening of the European market. UK’s soaring retail inflation number along with Fed Chair’s reassurance on bringing down the inflation, disturbed the sentiment, risking sharper rate hikes.

With prospects of a sizeable interest rate hike by the global central banks, investors are advised to allocate higher weightage to sectors that are least affected by such policies like defensives.

Indian rupee ended flat at 77.58 per dollar against Tuesday’s close of 77.56.

Indian benchmark indices ended with marginal losses in the volatile session on May 18.

At close, the Sensex was down 109.94 points or 0.20% at 54,208.53, and the Nifty was down 19 points or 0.12% at 16,240.30. About 1865 shares have advanced, 1409 shares declined, and 108 shares are unchanged.

Tata Consumer Products, Shree Cements, UltraTech Cement, Cipla and HUL were among the top Nifty gainers. However, losers were Power Grid Corporation, BPCL, Apollo Hospitals, Tata Motors and Tech Mahindra.

Among sectors, buying was seen in the FMCG and Pharma, while selling was seen in the bank, capital goods, realty, IT, metal, PSU Bank, and oil & gas indices.

BSE midcap index ended on flat note, while smallcap index was up 0.3 percent.

The board meeting of Trident will be held on May 30, 2022, to consider and approve the standalone and consolidated audited financial results of the company for the quarter and financial year ended March 31, 2022.

Further, the board shall also consider raising of funds by non-convertible debt instruments along with warrants, convertible securities other than warrants or foreign currency convertible bonds and I or such other securities including Non-Convertible Debentures.

Trident was quoting at Rs 49.45, up Rs 0.30, or 0.61 percent on the BSE.

Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail has posted consolidated net profit at Rs 43.59 crore in the quarter ended March 2022 versus loss of Rs 137.6 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue was up 25.3% at Rs 2,283 crore versus Rs 1,821.6 crore, YoY.

Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail was quoting at Rs 281.15, up Rs 1.15, or 0.41 percent.