The market closed with moderate gains on March 20 after a choppy session, as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting outcome.
The market gyrated between gains and losses throughout the day but buying in auto and energy names helped the benchmark indices close higher.
At close, the Sensex was up 89.64 points or 0.12 percent at 72,101.69, and the Nifty was up 21.60 points or 0.10 percent at 21,839.10.
Top gainers on the Nifty included Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid Corporation, Nestle India and ONGC, while losers were Tata Steel, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Motors, Axis Bank and Cipla.
Among sectors, auto, FMCG, realty, oil & gas, power were up 0.5-1 percent each, while the metal index was down nearly a percent.
BSE mid and smallcap indices ended flat.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 2,000 percent was seen in Nalco, Tech Mahindra and Manappuram Finance.
A long buildup was seen in Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Cummins India, while a short buildup was seen in Tata Chemicals, Page Industries and Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail.
Outlook for March 21
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities
The Nifty remained volatile ahead of the Fed's policy meeting. The overall sentiment remains negative, as the index closed below the previous consolidation low. The index ended the session below the critical moving average and a further fall is anticipated below the recent swing low on the hourly chart, which is positioned around 21,700. On the higher end, resistance is at 21,900-22,000.
Jatin Gedia, technical research analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas
On the daily chart, the Nifty has taken support around the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level of the previous rise from 21,530 – 22,526.
The momentum setup on the hourly time frame suggests exhaustion of selling pressure as there are signs of a positive divergence. It currently has a positive crossover.
In terms of price pattern, the daily candle has taken the form of a Doji pattern, which suggests indecision among market participants regarding the direction as both bulls and bears are trying hard to defend their boundaries. This could lead to consolidation and the range could be 21,700– 22,000.
Bank Nifty closed the day on a negative note for the ninth consecutive trading session, its worst losing streak in almost 23 years.. The fall found support at the lower end of the rising channel and daily lower Bollinger band placed at 45,800.
The hourly momentum indicator has a positive crossover, which is a buy signal. We can expect a recovery to 46,800–46,950 over the next few trading sessions.
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