The market ended in the red for the third straight session on July 20 dragged by metal, power, financial and realty stocks. At close, the Sensex was down 354.89 points, or 0.68 percent, at 52198.51 and the Nifty was down 120.30 points, or 0.76 percent, at 15,632.10.
"The markets have been able to close above the 15,600 support, which is heartening for the time being. The short-term trend gets threatened if we break this level on a closing basis," said Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.
"If a reversal in trend happens from the current juncture, the Nifty can scale up to 16,000-16,100. It is better to wait for a clean direction to emerge as the current risk is to reward ratio is skewed in favour of risk."
Broader markets mirrored the benchmarks. BSE midcap and smallcap indices fell over a percent each.
Hindalco, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, NTPC and Bharti Airtel were the top losers on the Nifty. Top gainers included Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, HUL, Grasim and Maruti Suzuki.
Stocks & sectors
On the BSE, all sectoral indices ended lower with power, realty, metal, healthcare, auto and bank falling 1-2.4 percent.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 400 percent was seen in Asian Paints, ACC and Berger Paints
A long buildup was seen in ACC, Asian Paints and Berger Paints, while a short buildup was seen in Ramco Cement, Tata Power and TVS Motor.
More than 400 stocks, including Vimta Labs, Mastek, Grasim Industries and JSW Energy, hit a fresh 52-week high on the BSE.
Technical View
The Nifty formed a bearish candle on daily scale and continued its lower highs-lower lows formation of the last two sessions.
The "Nifty has to cross and hold above 15,700 zones to witness an up move towards 15,800 and 15,900 levels while on the downside support exists at 15,550 and 15,450 levels," said Chandan Taparia, Vice President at Analyst-Derivatives.
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