Selling pressure resurfaced in the latter half, dragging the index back toward the day’s low, where it eventually closed. The Nifty declined 198 points to settle at 24,378.
On the gainers’ side, Tata Consumer Products, Hindustan Unilever, and NTPC offered support, while HCL Tech, Infosys, and M&M led the losses.Sectoral trends remained mixed. FMCG, media, and realty stocks outperformed, whereas IT, financial services, private banks, and auto lagged. The Nifty IT index dropped nearly 4%, tracking weak quarterly earnings from HCL Tech and Tata Elxsi.
Broader markets continued to outperform, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices rising 0.19% and 1.13%, respectively.
Going ahead, market direction is likely to remain sensitive to geopolitical developments and foreign institutional investor flows. Persistent FII selling, despite intermittent recoveries, continues to act as an overhang.
The ongoing earnings season is expected to drive stock-specific action, with key results lined up from Infosys, Union Bank of India
Cyient, and Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC.Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities said the index may find near-term support in the 24,200-24,100 zone, while a decisive move above 24,600 could open the path toward 24,800-25,000 levels.
Rupak De of LKP Securities said that while the broader trend remains positive above the 50EMA, the slip below the 20EMA on shorter timeframes indicates fading momentum.
He added that geopolitical cues, particularly from the Middle East, could influence Thursday’s opening. Immediate support is seen at 24,200, with a break potentially dragging the index toward 23,900, while resistance remains around 24,600.
Nandish Shah of HDFC Securities said the index holding above its 5-DEMA at 24,337 suggests the decline is largely profit booking within an ongoing uptrend rather than a reversal.
He sees the next support at the 50-DEMA of 24,220, while resistance is placed between 24,600 and 24,820.
Bank Nifty, on the other hand, displayed relative resilience. After an initial dip, it attracted strong buying interest from the intraday low of 57002, but upside remained capped near the previous day’s high zone of 57,450-57,500. The index eventually settled at 57,124.
Going ahead, the immediate resistance for Bank Nifty is placed in the 57,500-57,600 zone. Any sustainable move above this zone could result in Bank Nifty extending its up move towards 58,000, followed by 58,400 in the short term, said Sudeep Shah of SBI Securities.
On the downside, the zone of 56,600-56,500 zone is likely to act as an immediate support, Shah added.
