The equity benchmark remained rangebound on October 12 after two straight days of gains, with the Sensex falling 64.66 points or 0.10 percent to 66,408.39 and the Nifty closing 17.30 points or 0.09 percent lower at 19,794.
The market opened higher on positive global cues but the gains were wiped out in the initial hours. The market remained in a consolidation mode for the rest of the session, with the IT pack taking a beating a day after Tata Consultancy Services posed a mixed bag of numbers for the September quarter.
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Stocks and sectors
Top Nifty gainers included BPCL, Coal India, Maruti Suzuki, Grasim Industries and Power Grid Corporation, while the biggest losers were Tech Mahindra, Apollo Hospitals, TCS, HCL Technologies and Infosys.
On the sectoral front, the information Technology index shed 1.5 percent, while auto, metal, power, oil & gas added 0.5-1 percent.
The BSE midcap index gained 0.3 percent and smallcap index rose 0.6 percent.
A long build-up was seen in Gail India, PVR Inox and NALCO, while a short build-up was seen in Tech Mahindra, Multi Commodity Exchange of India and Infosys.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 200 percent was seen in Delta Corp, Dr Lal PathLabs and Gail India.
Nearly 300 stocks touched their 52-week high on the BSE, including One 97 Communications, Shalby, Moil, Cupid, Balkrishna Industries and Atul Auto. Click here for the full list
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Outlook for October 13
Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas
The Nifty opened flat and consolidated for most part of the day. It closed marginally in the red down 17 points. On the daily charts, the Nifty can be seen consolidating after a sharp rally of around 350 points in the previous two sessions. This consolidation is a healthy sign and shall set the floor for the next leg of the upmove.
The hourly momentum indicator has a negative crossover, which can lead to more consolidation and if the index slides to 19,750– 19,730, it should be used as a buying opportunity.
On the downside, the gap area formed in the range 19,718–19,757 is likely to act as a short-term support and on the upside, the rally can extend to 19,884–20,030.
The Bank Nifty also consolidated within a range and formed an Inside bar pattern. The hourly Bollinger bands are contracting. The hourly momentum indicator has a negative crossover and is still far from the equilibrium line. indicating that consolidation can continue over the next few sessions.
Dips towards 44,400– 44,300 should be used as a buying opportunity. Once this consolidation matures, we expect the positive momentum to resume on the upside till 45,050–45,350, which coincides with the 50 percent and 61.82 percent Fibonacci retracement level of the fall.
Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking
We reiterate our mildly bullish view on the index and suggest continuing with a “buy-on-dips” approach till Nifty holds 19,500. However, traders should be extra cautious in selecting stocks as volatility remains high during the earnings season. Mixed global cues can also add to the choppiness.
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