The market continues to remain in uncertain territory as it continues to grapple with tariff threats from Donald Trump. Pain in the broader market remains, along with an additional pressure of selling by foreign institutions, who are finding more attractive avenues to deploy their funds, such as the Chinese and the Hong Kong markets.
March generally tends to be a month of relief for the markets. The Nifty has delivered positive returns in the month of March for the last four years. In fact, it was in March 2023 that it had made an annual bottom of 16,828 before embarking on new highs. Incidentally, it made an annual bottom in March 2024 as well, making new highs before the subsequent fall during the Lok Sabha election result day of June 4, which became the new swing low for the index.The short-term trend of the Nifty remains weak with rangebound movement, said Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities, who expects the index to slide down to the immediate support of 22,400 levels in the short-term. Immediate upside resistance is at 22,625.
Rupak De of LKP Securities said that 22,500 is now a similar support level for the Nifty as 22,800 was a few days earlier. In case the Nifty falls below that level, it can slide to 22,200 and 22,650 will act as a resistance in the short-ter. Till the Nifty remains below the 22,750 – 22,800 mark, it is likely to remain a sell-on-rise market, he added.
Kotak Securities’ Shrikant Chouhan said that 22,600 is an immediate resistance for the Nifty in the short-term and a move above that can take the index back to 22,700 – 22,800 levels. Fresh selling is likely only on a fall below 22,500, which can take the index down to 22,350 levels.
The Nifty Bank was an outperformer on Thursday, but also saw some selling pressure at higher levels towards the close of the trading session. At one point, the index traded with gains of over 300 points, but corrected from levels close to 49,000 and ended with modest gains. Most of the NBFCs, led by CreditAccess Grameen surged on Thursday post the RBI relief measures. The index is still 250 points away from the 49,000 mark.
The 9-EMA of the Nifty Bank, currently at 49,100, acts as an immediate resistance, capping any upside attempts, said Om Mehra of SAMCO Securities. On the downside, support is at 48,280 and a break of that can accelerate the index fall towards 48,000. He expects the phase of consolidation to continue for another few sessions.
Hrishikesh Yedve of Asit C Mehta Intermediates continues to observe the formation of doji candles on the Nifty Bank charts, indicating uncertainty. 49,650 on the upside will act as a barrier for the index, while downside support is at 47,840.
What Are The F&O Cues Indicating?
March futures of these stocks saw addition of fresh long positions on Thursday, meaning an increase in both price and Open Interest:
| Stock | Price Change | Changed |
| Laps | 2.50% | 29.93% |
| Aditya Birla Capital | 3.08% | 26.43% |
| SRF | 2.40% | 22.10% |
| Bajaj finserv | 2.34% | 21.91% |
| AU Small Finance Bank | 6.52% | 20.67% |
March futures of these stocks saw addition of fresh short positions on Thursday, meaning a decline in price but an increase in Open Interest:
| Stock | Price Change | Changed |
| Polycab | -18.75% | 117.00% |
| Industries are located in Industries | -21.71% | 114.00% |
| Chambal Fertilisers | -2.13% | 68.53% |
| Delhivery | -1.59% | 64.37% |
| Tata Chemicals | -3.12% | 59.41% |
These are the stocks to watch out for ahead of Friday’s trading session:
- Granules India: USFDA issues warning letter to Gagillapur facility. Warning letter may temporarily impact the USFDA review of pending product submissions from the site. Warning letter highlights four key areas previously outlined in the USFDA observations and significant progress has been made in all the observations highlighted.
- Coal India: ₹300 per tonne charge levied uniformly across all mines of Northern Coalfields from May 1, 2025. Expected additional revenue to be worth ₹3,877.5 crore.
- GE Power: Gets additional contract worth ₹273.5 crore from GREENKO KA01 IREP.
- KSB: Q3 net profit up 33% at ₹73 crore from ₹54.9 crore last year. Revenue up 20.5% to ₹726.4 crore from ₹602.6 crore. EBITDA up 26.5% to ₹85 crore. EBITDA margin at 11.7% from 11.2% last year. Recommends final dividend of ₹4 per share.
- Schaeffler India Q4: Net profit up 13.2% to ₹237.3 crore. Revenue up 13.9% to ₹2,136 crore. EBITDA up 14.2% to ₹370.2 crore. EBITDA margin flat at 17.3%. Final dividend of ₹28 per share.
- Transrail Lighting: Bags new orders worth ₹2,752 crore.
- Tata Power: Arm TP Solar bags orders worth ₹632 crore from SECI to supply 292.5 MWp DCR Solar Modules.
- LIC: Gets GST, Interest and Penalty notice worth ₹479.88 crore for FY21.
- Rvnl: Gets letter of acceptance for a project worth ₹135.66 crore from Central Railway.
- Chemplast Sanmar: Company and its arm CCVL to acquire 18.46% and 7.81% respectively of JSW Green Energy Nine for ₹30.4 crore.
- PB Fintech: Naveen Kukreja steps down as head of Paisabazaar and will now become Group President at PB Fintech. Santosh Agarwal to be new Paisabazaar CEO rom March 1, 2025.
- SANOFI INDIA: Net profit down 33.7% from last year to ₹91.3 crore. Revenue up 9.7% to ₹514.9 crore from ₹469.2 crore. EBITDA up 18.8% to ₹118.3 crore. EBITDA Margin at 23% from 21.2%. Recommends dividend of ₹117 per share.
