Closing Bell: Nifty above 18,300, Sensex up 98 pts amid volatility; FMCG, auto, realty rally

Taking Stock: Last-minute buying helps market recover; Sensex up 100 points, Nifty above 18,300

Bajaj Auto, Adani Enterprises, Bharti Airtel, ITC and Divis Laboratories were among the biggest gainers on the Nifty, while Wipro, Tata Motors, UPL, Sun Pharma and HDFC were among the big losers... Read More

The Nifty opened on a flat note and witnessed weak price action during the first half of the trading session. Buying interest emerged from the 20-day moving average (18224) and there was a sharp surge during the second half which helped the Nifty to close the day on a positive note up ~36 points.

On the daily charts we can observe that the Nifty is witnessing buying interest from crucial support levels and the dips are being bought into which is a bullish sign. The daily momentum indicator still has a negative crossover which indicates that the index can consolidate however slowly the structure is turning in favor of the Bulls.

The daily Bollinger bands are contracting which indicates contraction of range and also suggests that there could be rangebound price action over the next few trading sessions.

Overall, we still believe that the Nifty is in a consolidation mode and the range of consolidation is likely to be 18000 – 18400. In terms of levels, 18420 – 18450 shall act as the immediate hurdle while 18200 – 18180 is the crucial support zone to watch out for on the downside.

Markets oscillated in a narrow range on the monthly expiry day and settled marginally higher. After the flat start, the Nifty slipped gradually lower however support around the 18200 zone triggered a steady rebound in the final hours. Eventually, it settled at 18321.15 levels; up by 0.20 percent. Meanwhile, most sectors traded in sync and ended flat however the outperformance continued on the broader front.

We feel the prevailing consolidation may continue in the index citing mixed indications. While there’s no shortage of trading opportunities, traders should focus more on handling intermediate volatility. Besides, the focus should be on sectors/stocks which are showing consistency in their trend instead of betting on laggards. To reclaim positivity and momentum, we need a decisive close above 18400 in Nifty and 44,000 in the banking index.

On the last day of Monthly F&O series day, the benchmark indices witnessed a volatile trading session, the Nifty ended 36 points higher. Among Sectors, Reality and Digital indices gained nearly 1 percent whereas intraday profit booking was seen in PSU Banks and Pharma stocks.

Technically, after morning intraday selloff once again the Nifty took the support near 20-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) and bounced back sharply. It also formed a bullish candle on daily charts which supports further uptrend from the current levels.

We are of the view that, 20-day SMA or 18220 would be the sacrosanct support zone for the bulls. Above the same, the index could retest the level of 18400-18450. On the flip side, below 20-day SMA or 18220 uptrend would be vulnerable and below the same, the market could slip till 18150-18100.

The fight between the bulls and bears continues in the Bank Nifty Index. The bulls have been trying to push the index higher, but the bears have been successful in keeping it in check. The monthly expiry witnessed volatile trading, but the index managed to hold the support of 43,400. This is a positive sign for the bulls, as it shows that there is still demand for the index at this level.

The resistance is at 44,000, where the highest open interest is built up on the call side. This means that there is a lot of potentials for the index to move higher if it can break through this resistance level.

Global markets maintained their influence, exerting downward pressure on the domestic market in response to weaker cues from the US market and the recession in Germany. However, as US futures rose, propelled by a sharp increase in sales projections from chipmaker Nvidia, the domestic market was able to efficiently recoup its earlier losses.

Nifty remained volatile during the day, but found support at the 18,200 level before moving higher. The RSI is in a bullish crossover on the lower timeframe, which suggests that the momentum is in favour of the bulls.

On the higher end, resistance is seen at 18,500. Support is seen at 18,200.

Overall, the outlook for the market is positive, but there is still some volatility to be expected. Traders should take profits on rallies and look for opportunities to buy on dips.

Indian rupee ended marginally lower at 82.74 per dollar against previous close of 82.67.

: Indian benchmark indices ended on a positive note in the highly volatile session on May 25.

At close, the Sensex was up 98.84 points or 0.16percentat 61,872.62, and the Nifty was up 35.80 points or 0.20percentat 18,321.20. About 1,830 shares advanced, 1,573 shares declined, and 112 shares were unchanged.

Bajaj Auto, Adani Enterprises, Bharti Airtel, ITC and Divis Laboratories were among the biggest gainers on the Nifty, while losers were Wipro, Tata Motors, UPL, Sun Pharma and HDFC.

Except for metal and PSU Bank, all other sectoral indices ended in the green with the Realty index up 1 percent, while auto, capital goods, FMCG and power up 0.5 percent each.

The BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended on a positive note.