Indian equity indices ended higher for the second consecutive session, but with moderate gains amid volatility on March 22 as investors await the outcome of the Federal Reserve policy meeting later tonight.
At close, the Sensex was up 139.91 points or 0.24 percent at 58,214.59, and the Nifty was up 44.40 points or 0.26 percent at 17,151.90.
After a positive start, the market erased most of the early gains but remained in the green territory throughout the session amid volatility. Buying was seen in the auto, bank and pharma names.
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Stocks and sectors
Top gainers on the Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma and Tata Consumer Products, while losers were BPCL, Coal India, NTPC, Adani Ports and Axis Bank.
On the sectoral front, the pharma index added 1 percent and the PSU Bank index was up 0.8 percent.
The BSE midcap index ended on a flat note, while smallcap index rose 0.5 percent.
Cipla, Century Plyboards, Bodal Chemicals, Pritish Nandy Communications, Simplex Realty, SPML Infra, and Sobha were among the stocks, which touched their 52-week lows on the BSE.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 200 percent was seen in Grasim Industries, Metropolis Healthcare and UPL.
A long build-up was seen in Bandhan Bank, Can Fin Home and Alkem Laboratories, while a short build-up was seen in ABB India, BHEL and SAIL India.
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Outlook for March 23
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities
The Nifty rose for the second consecutive session on March 22 after a rangebound session. At close, the Nifty was up 0.26 percent or 44.4 points at 17151.9. Volumes on the NSE were the lowest in more than nine months. Smallcap index rose more than the Nifty even as the advance decline ratio remained high at 1.64:1.
Asian stocks rose on March 22 while European stocks struggled for momentum after a tentative recovery in the past two sessions, with investors looking ahead to a crucial monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve amid turmoil in the banking sector. The UK’s inflation unexpectedly accelerated to 10.4 percent in February.
The Nifty carried on with the upmove, though the pace reduced. It could now rise towards 17,422 once the 17,255 level is taken out. On falls, 17,067 could provide support.
Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities
The Nifty index witnessed sideways momentum throughout the day but the index managed to close in green. The index remains in a buy-on-dip mode as long as the index stays above 17,000.
The immediate hurdle on the upside is at 17,200 where the highest open interest is built up on the call side. The index once surpassed the resistance will witness a sharp move on the upside toward the 17,500 level.
Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking
Markets traded dull in a narrow range and ended marginally higher on Wednesday. Caution ahead of the outcome of the US Fed meeting capped movement till the end. Finally, the Nifty index closed at 17,151.90 levels; up by 0.26 percent. Meanwhile, mixed trends on the sectoral front and selective buying in midcap and smallcap space kept the participants busy till the end.
Markets will react to the outcome of the US Fed meeting in early trade on Thursday. And, the scheduled weekly expiry would further add to the volatility. Since we’re eyeing a hurdle around the 17,300-17,400 zone, participants should use further rebound to reduce positions.
Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
The Nifty witnessed a rangebound day of trade today. It opened on a positive note and consolidated thereafter to close the day on a positive note, up about 44 points. On the daily charts, we can observe that the Nifty is in a pullback mode after correcting around 1,000 points between March 9 and March 20.
Today, the daily momentum indicator has triggered a fresh positive crossover which is a buy signal. Also, we believe that the pullback is not yet complete and we expect it to continue over the next few trading sessions.
On the upside, we expect it to retrace till levels of 17,460–17,500 where resistance in the form of the 200-day moving average is placed. On the downside the immediate support stands at the lower end of the downward sloping channel 16,800 – 16,830.
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