Market ended lower for the second consecutive day on February 17, but Nifty managed to hold above 15,200. At close, the Sensex was down 400.34 points, or 0.77%, at 51,703.83, and the Nifty fell 104.60 points, or 0.68%, to 15,208.90.
"Index opened the day with a gap down and managed to hold its bearish steam throughout the day and closed at 15,210 with loss of nearly one percent forming a bearish candle for the second consecutive day," said Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities
"The index closed below its strong support of 15,250 which hints now 15,250 will the immediate hurdle on the higher side and we may see good move once index decisively move above 15,250 odd levels, immediate support is now placed at 15,140-15,090 zone and resistance is coming near 15,300-15,380 zone," he added.
Among sectors, PSU Bank index rallied nearly 6 percent, while some buying also seen in the energy, infra and auto names. However, IT and pharma indices shed 1 percent each.
BSE midcap index ended flat, while smallcap index added 0.5 percent.
Nestle, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC Bank were among major losers on the Nifty, while gainers were Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports, SBI, Power Grid Corp and NTPC.
Stocks & sectors
On the BSE, selling witnessed in the FMCG, healthcare, IT and realty stocks, while power, capital goods and metal names.
A volume spike of more than 100 percent was seen in BHEL, Dr Lal PathLabs, Page Industries, Hero MotoCorp and Marico.
Long buildup was seen in PNB, Dr Lal PathLabs, Adani Ports while short buildup was seen in Nestle, Info Edge and Page Industries.
More than 200 stocks including Tata Power, Bank of India, PNB Housing Finance, hit a fresh 52-week high on the BSE.
Technical View
Nifty formed a Bearish candle on daily scale and negated its formation of higher highs - higher lows of the last four trading sessions.
"Nifty has to hold 15,200 zones to witness a move towards 15,500 zones while on the downside major support can be seen around 15,100 and 15,000 zones," said Chandan Taparia of Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
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