Taking Stock: Market ends flat in rangebound session; mid, smallcap rally halts

On the sectoral front, FMCG, media, power shed between 0.4-1.3 percent, while PSU Bank index was up 0.7 percent and Consumer Durables index rose 0.4 percent.

Apollo Hospitals, Bharat Electronics, Reliance Industries, SBI Life Insurance, Asian Paints were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Axis Bank, Nestle, Shriram Finance, Eternal, Trent.

Also Read: ICICI Securities reverses negative outlook on paints sector after four years; upgrades Asian Paints, Berger Paints

In stock specific action, Sigachi Industries shares plunged 5%, extending losses to 2nd day after reactor blast kills 34 at Telangana plant, Gabriel India shares rose 20% on restructuring plan, Kalpataru Projects shares gained 2% on orders win worth Rs 989 crore, Dixon Technologies shares sank after Morgan Stanley's downgrade, Karur Vysya Bank shares gained 2 percent after Q1 deposits, advances rose 15%.

More than 150 stocks on the BSE touched their 52-week highs, including JK Lakshmi Cement, Endurance Technoogies, City Union Bank, Apollo Hospitals, Federal Bank, Bharat Electronics, Laurus Labs, AU Small Finance Bank, Deepak Fertilisers, Navin Fluorine, Aditya Birla Capital, MCX India, Hyundai Moto, LT Finance, Ramco Cements, Max Healthcare, Max Financial, Interglobe Aviation, Poonawalla Fincorp, among others. Click to View More

Outlook for July 2

Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities

After showing minor weakness from near the hurdle of previous opening downside gap of 3rd Oct 24 around 25650 levels on Monday, Nifty was not able to show follow-through weakness on Tuesday and closed the day higher by 24 points.

Bullish chart pattern like higher tops and bottoms is in store on the daily chart and further consolidation or weakness from here could form a short term base for the market ahead.

After the sharp upside breakout of broader high low range of 24500-25200 levels as per weekly chart in last week, the market consolidating from the highs and sliding down to the support of previous broken area around 25300 levels could be a positive indication.

The near term trend of Nifty remains positive. Further consolidation/weakness from here could find strong support around 25400-25300 levels, where one may expect sharp bounce from the lows. However, a decisive move above the high of 25700 could open the next upside targets of around 26000-26200 levels in the near term.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities:

Today, the benchmark indices witnessed lackluster activity. The Nifty ends 25 points higher, while the Sensex was up by 91 points. Among sectors, PSU banks and defense stocks witnessed intraday buying interest, whereas the media index lost the most, shed 1.35 percent. Technically, after a muted open, the entire day market hovered between 24,500/83,600 and 24,600/83,900 price ranges. A small candlestick formation on daily charts and non-directional intraday activity on intraday charts indicate indecisiveness between the bulls and the bears.

We believe that the current market texture is non-directional, perhaps with traders waiting for either side to make a breakout. For the bulls, the immediate breakout zones are 25,600/83,900. A successful breakout above these levels could push the market toward 25,700–25,750 / 84,200–84,400. On the flip side, a dismissal of 25,470/83,500 could accelerate selling pressure. Below these levels, the market could retest 25,375–25,300 / 83,200–83,000.

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