Sensex, Nifty extend losses to 4th day; all eyes on yield trends, Q4 results season

Broader markets exhibit mixed trend on April 18

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty erased intial gains and fell on April 18 as investors booked profits. Weakness ensued in consumer, pharma, and banking pockets towards the end of trading session. Market experts believe that the bearish bias will continue over the next few days as investors grapple with geopolitical uncertainity in the Middle-East, elevated bond yields, and corporate earnings season.

The Sensex was down 454.69 points or 0.62 percent at 72,488.99, and the Nifty was down 152.10 points or 0.69 percent at 21,995.80. The market breadth was in favour of gainers as around 1,852 shares advanced, 1,809 shares declined, and 120 shares were unchanged.

Analysts at ICICI Securities expects stock-specific action to take place as earnings season accelerates. "Key support for Nifty is placed around 21,900, while life-highs of 22,800 will remain key resistance," they said.

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Sameet Chavan, Head Research, Technical and Derivative - Angel One expects broader markets to pivot on global developments. He believes that identifying thematic movers can play a significant role in outperforming the markets, and refraining from aggressive trades until uncertainity subsides is advisable.

"The technical setup construes inherent weakness and brings the 22,000 mark in the vicinity of the bears. For now, a decisive breach below the 50 DEMA could further disrupt the chart structure, and 22,000, followed by the previous swing closure around 21,800, is to be seen as the last hope for the bulls' comeback," he added.

Broader markets exhibited mixed trend on April 18 as BSE Midcap was down 0.4 percent, while BSE Smallcap index gained marginally. India VIX, which measures near-term volatility ticked up by 2 percent to settle at 12.88.

Sectorally, Nifty Media index was the top performer as it gained over a percent, followed by gains in Nifty IT and Nifty Metal indices. On the flipside, Nifty Healthcare index was the top laggard as it slipped over a percent.