After rising for two straight sessions, the Indian equity market witnessed consolidation on December 28, thereby ending flat amid mixed global cues and scheduled F&O expiry due tomorrow.
At Close, the Sensex was down 17.15 points or 0.03% at 60,910.28, while the Nifty was down 9.80 points or 0.05% at 18,122.50.
"Market wavered between gains and losses with investors taking their position around the flatline as mixed global cues troubled them to take a firm one-sided move," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial.
"US stocks were weak as the trade deficit data suggested strength in the economy, raising concerns about the Fed's tightening stance."
"However, steps toward reopening the Chinese economy increased the prospect of demand recovery," Nair added.
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Stocks and sectors
Titan Company, M&M, Power Grid Corporation, Maruti Suzuki and UPL were among the biggest Nifty gainers. On the contrary, Bharti Airtel, Apollo Hospitals, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel and Bajaj Finserv emerged as the top losers.
On the sectoral front, the Nifty pharma index shed 0.5 percent, while the auto index rose 0.6 percent. The energy index, too, gained 0.3 percent.
The BSE midcap index was up 0.2 percent and smallcap index rose 0.4 percent.
On the BSE, oil & gas and power indices gained 1 percent each while realty and auto indices added 0.5 percent each. On the other hand, selling was seen in the bank, capital goods, metal, healthcare and information technology stocks.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 100 percent was seen in Oberoi Realty, GNFC and Titan Company.
A short build-up was seen in Amara Raja Batteries, L&T Technology Services and Honeywell Automation India, while a long build-up was seen in Atul, GNFC and RBL Bank.
Fertilizers & Chemicals Travancore, Hariom Pipe Industries, Jindal Steel & Power, Maxheights Infrastructure and RBL Bank touched a 52-week high on the BSE.
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Outlook for December 29
Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas
Continuing with the bounce that was seen in the last couple of sessions, the Nifty attempted to inch higher on December 28. The daily chart shows that the index has moved up to retest a trendline, which was broken on the downside on Friday last week.
18,150-18,200 is the key resistance zone, which indeed proved to be a crucial barrier for the day. As long as the index stays below this resistance zone on a closing basis, it is likely to witness consolidation in the short term. 18,000-18,200 can be the tight range for the Nifty with crucial support placed at 17,800.
Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking
The benchmark indices traded dull and ended almost flat amid mixed cues. After the initial downtick, the Nifty spent the entire day in a narrow band; however, the tone was on the positive side, thanks to buying select index majors. And, it finally settled at 18,122.50 levels.
Among the sectoral pack, auto, energy and select PSU banks were in the limelight while defensive viz. pharma and FMCG traded subdued.
Indications are pointing towards a range-bound trend to continue in Nifty and we expect stock-specific moves to keep the participants occupied, thanks to the scheduled expiry of December month derivatives contracts. Besides, the broader indices are also showing some stability, so participants can selectively look for buying opportunities.
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