The market managed to eke out gains amid a volatile and rangebound session on March 16 and snapped a five-day losing streak, tracking a rally in European counterparts. That apart, buying was witnessed in beaten-down stocks in sectors such as FMCG, select banking & financial services, auto, and pharma.
The BSE Sensex rose 79 points to 57,635, while the Nifty50 gained 13.4 points to 16,986 and formed a Long Legged Doji pattern on the daily charts, indicating the tug of war between bulls and bears after taking support at 16,850.
"The Nifty found support at the lower band of the falling channel before moving higher. A long-legged Doji pattern has formed on the daily chart, which suggests indecisiveness," Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said.
Besides, the analyst feels the index has found support around previous congestion. Over the short term, the stock is likely to move towards 17,250, whereas, on the lower end, closing basis support is visible at 16,950, the expert added.
But the market breadth was in favour of bears, hence there was a mixed trend in broader markets. The Nifty Midcap 100 index gained 0.09 percent while the Smallcap 100 index fell half a percent as three shares declined for every two rising scrips on the NSE.
We have collated 15 data points to help you spot profitable trades:
Note: The open interest (OI) and volume data of stocks in this article are the aggregates of three-month data and not just the current month.
Key support and resistance levels on the Nifty
As per the pivot charts, the Nifty has support at 16,885, followed by 16,835 and 16,754. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,047, followed by 17,097 and 17,178.
The Bank Nifty also rebounded, rising 81 points to 39,133 and forming a Doji kind of pattern on the daily charts, making lower lows formation for the fifth consecutive session.
"The Bank Nifty index witnessed some buying from the lower levels on the weekly expiry day, however, the undertone remains bearish as long as it says below the level of 40,000," Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivatives Analyst at LKP Securities said.
He feels the Index's immediate hurdle stands at 39,500 and if sustains above it can witness some short covering towards 40,000.
The downside support is at 38,500 and if it breaches below, it will lead to further selling pressure, Shah said.
The important pivot level, which will act as a support, is at 38,749, followed by 38,568 and 38,274. On the upside, key resistance levels are 39,336, followed by 39,517, and 39,811.
On a monthly basis, we have seen the maximum Call open interest (OI) at 18,000 strike, with 34.73 lakh contracts, which is expected to be a crucial resistance for the Nifty in March series.
This is followed by an 17,500 strike, comprising 28.57 lakh contracts, and a 17,000 strike, where there are more than 27.83 lakh contracts.
Call writing was seen at 17,000 strike, which added 14.42 lakh contracts, followed by 17,400 strike, which gave an addition of 3.69 lakh contracts, and 17,300 strike which saw 1.8 lakh contracts addition.
We have seen Call unwinding at 17,800 strike, which shed 1.97 lakh contracts, followed by 17,600 strike which shed 1.87 lakh contracts, and 17,700 strike which shed 90,400 contracts.
On a monthly basis, the maximum Put OI was seen at 17,000 strike, with 61.52 lakh contracts, which is expected to be a crucial level to watch in the March series.
This is followed by the 16,500 strike, comprising 30.72 lakh contracts, and the 16,000 strike, where we have 27.82 lakh contracts.
Put writing was seen at 17,000 strike, which added 11.34 lakh contracts, followed by 16,500 strike with 3.05 lakh contracts, and 16,000 strike with 2.58 lakh contracts.
We have seen Put unwinding at 17,200 strike, which shed 2.81 lakh contracts, followed by 17,500 strike which shed 2.06 lakh contracts, and 17,400 strike which shed 1.47 lakh contracts.
Stocks with high delivery percentage
A high delivery percentage suggests that investors are showing interest in these stocks. The highest delivery was seen in ITC, Marico, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, and UltraTech Cement, among others.
An increase in open interest (OI) and an increase in price mostly indicate a build-up of long positions. Based on the OI percentage, 58 stocks including Bajaj Auto, BPCL, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Piramal Enterprises, and Zydus Life Sciences, witnessed a long build-up.
In most cases, a decline in OI and a decrease in price indicate a long unwinding. Based on the OI percentage, 25 stocks including ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, National Aluminium Company, Metropolis Healthcare, and Tata Steel witnessed a long unwinding.
40 stocks see a short build-up
An increase in OI accompanied by a decrease in price mostly indicates a build-up of short positions. Based on the OI percentage, 40 stocks including SBI Life Insurance Company, City Union Bank, Vedanta, Hindalco Industries, and Samvardhana Motherson International, saw a short build-up.
A decrease in OI along with an increase in price is an indication of short-covering. Based on the OI percentage, 68 stocks were on the short-covering list. These included Power Grid Corporation of India, Berger Paints, Petronet LNG, Indus Towers, and PVR.
Samvardhana Motherson International: Copthall Mauritius Investment has bought 4.43 crore equity shares and Societe Generale purchased 5.28 crore shares in the auto ancillary company via open market transactions at an average price of Rs 70.05 per share. However, promoter Sumitomo Wiring Systems has sold 23 crore shares in the company at an average price of Rs 70.1 per share, amounting to Rs 1,612.3 crore.
(For more bulk deals, click here)
Investors' meetings on March 17
HCL Technologies: Officials of the company will participate in Bank of America Tech Trip.
Nazara Technologies: Company's officials will interact with Aregence Capital.
Alkem Laboratories: Officials of the company will meet BlackRock, Nomura, and Jefferies.
Allcargo Logistics: Company's officials will meet investors and analysts in non-deal roadshow organized by Jefferies.
Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals: Officials of the company will interact with Sundaram Mutual Fund.
Finolex Industries: Company's officials will interact with Incred Capital.
Indian Energy Exchange: Officials of the company will meet SBI MF.
Pricol: Company's officials will participate in Valorem Advisors Annual Conference.
Punjab National Bank: Representatives of the bank will attend an investors group meeting organised by Morgan Stanley.
Heranba Industries: Officials of the company will interact with Seven Canyons Advisors.
Supriya Lifescience: Company's officials will interact with analyst/institutional investors.
Voltas: Officials of the company will interact with T Rowe Price.
PI Industries: Company's officials will meet Morgan Stanley.
Stocks in the news
Tata Consultancy Services: Rajesh Gopinathan has resigned as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the country's largest IT services exporter, which will be effective from September 15, 2023. K Krithivasan is appointed as the Chief Executive Officer Designate, with effective from March 16, who take over as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of TCS in the next financial year, subject to shareholders' approval.
Infosys: Its subsidiary Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, has implemented its liquidity management solution for ABN AMRO's corporate customers. The bank will now be able to provide its customers a single point of access to better manage their global commercial cash flows securely from anywhere and on any device of their choice.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories: The pharma major has signed a deal to divest certain non-core brands in the dermatology segments to Eris Lifesciences. Eris Lifesciences will get trademark of these brands for Rs 275 crore. As per IQVIA MAT December 2022, the divested portfolio saw sales of Rs 60 crore in India.
Voltas: Its subsidiary Universal MEP Projects & Engineering Services (UMPESL) has bagged multiple SITC project orders worth Rs 1,770 crore in electrical power distribution business for FY23, including a solar power project.
Bajaj Finance: The company has appointed Dr Arindam Bhattacharya as an independent director on its board for five years with effect from April 1, 2023. The non-banking finance company also appointed Anup Saha, and Rakesh Bhatt as Executive Directors on the board for five years with effect from April 1. Anup Saha and Rakesh Bhatt are presently the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Bajaj Finance and members of company's executive management team.
Rail Vikas Nigam: The state-owned railway company has emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) for projects worth Rs 111.85 crore. The scope of work includes supply, installation, testing and commissioning of 11 KV line associated works in various circles of MPPKVVCL, Jabalpur company area.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises: The media & entertainment company, and Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) have mutually entered into the settlement agreement, and hence all disputes and claims have been settled between them. Accordingly, IPRS agreed to withdraw the insolvency petition filed by them. There is no penalty paid and no material impact on the financial position of the company.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals: Glenmark Specialty SA, the subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has received acceptance from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its investigational new drug (IND) application for GRC 54276 to proceed with a Phase 1/2, for the treatment of patients with advanced solid tumors and lymphomas. GRC 54276 is an orally available, small molecule hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) inhibitor developed by Glenmark.
Hindustan Aeronautics: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in the meeting of the defence acquisition council, approved proposals to procure Rs 70,000 crore worth of different weapon systems for the Indian defence forces. The deal includes the purchase of 60 UH Marine choppers from Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), worth Rs 32,000 crore.
Fund Flow
Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 282.06 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth Rs 2,051.45 crore on March 16, the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed.
Stocks under F&O ban on NSE
The National Stock Exchange has retained Indiabulls Housing Finance, and GNFC in its F&O ban list for March 17. Securities banned under the F&O segment include companies where derivative contracts have crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.
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