Indian equity benchmarks continued to decline on Wednesday after a day's breather, as gains in financial and oil & gas shares were offset by losses in IT, pharma and auto counters. Broader markets were mixed, with the smallcap and midcap gauges rising and falling half a percent each.
What do the charts suggest for Dalal Street now?
The 50-scrip index has formed a reasonable negative candle on the daily chart, partially engulfing the previous positive candle, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.
There are chances of the Nifty50 revisiting its recent low of 17,216, he said.
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More weakness possible
The index has reversed direction after reaching 17,600, a level that has served as important support in the past, said Shrikant Chouhan, Head-Equity Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities. There are signs of further weakness in the market in the short term, he said.
"The next best support exists at 17,300, 17,200 and 17,100. A 'buy and sell' strategy can be used... On the upside, levels 17,500 and 17,600 will be the biggest hurdles," Chouhan added.
Here are key things to know about the market before Thursday's session:
SGX Nifty
At 7:56 am on Thursday, Nifty futures trading on Singapore Exchange, an early indicator of the Nifty50 index, were down 13.5 points or 0.1 percent at 17,427.5, having declined as much as 21.5 points to 17,419.5 earlier in the day.
Global markets
Equities in other Asian markets tumbled, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.3 percent at the last count. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was up 0.7 percent. S&P 500 futures were up 0.2 percent in early Asian trade. The US market will remain closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving Day.
Wall Street indices ended mostly higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.2-0.4 percent, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing marginally lower.
What to expect on Dalal Street
HDFC Securities' Shetti believes the short-term trend of the Nifty50 continues to be negative, with no confirmation of any significant bottom reversal at the lows. "There is a possibility of the index showing further weakness towards 17,200 in the short term before another round of minor upside from the lows," he said.
Technically, the index has failed to sustain higher levels on the daily timeframe, according to Sachin Gupta, AVP-Research at Choice Broking. It has tested the neckline of the head and shoulder pattern, which suggests more weakness on Thursday, he said.
Key levels to watch out for
Nifty50: Immediate support for the index is placed at 17,200 and resistance at 17,650, said Gupta.
Bank Nifty: For the banking index, support is seen at 36,650 and resistance at 38,000, he said.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net offloaded Indian equities worth Rs 5,122.7 crore on Wednesday. However, domestic institutional investors made net purchases of Rs 3,809.6 crore, according to provisional exchange data.
The maximum call open interest remains at the strike price of 18,000, with 1.5 lakh contracts, and more one lakh contracts each at 17,500, 17,600, 17,700, 17,800 and 17,900 levels. The maximum put open interest remains at the 17,000 mark, with 1.1 lakh contracts, NSE data shows.
This suggests immediate resistance has shifted to 17,500, from 17,800, followed by a major hurdle at the 18,000 mark, and support stays at 17,000.
NSE's India VIX index — which gauges the expectation of volatility in the near term — eased 5.1 percent to 17.1, cooling off from its highest close in more than a month the previous day.
Here are five stocks that saw an increase in open interest as well as price, suggesting a build-up of long positions:
| Symbol | Current OI | CMP | Price change (%) | OI change (%) |
| ICICIGI | 16,05,225 | 1,489.85 | 2.21% | 27.56% |
| SBILIFE | 31,91,250 | 1,153.55 | 0.07% | 22.26% |
| TORNTPHARM | 4,78,750 | 2,828.85 | 0.15% | 20.84% |
| AUROPHARMA | 74,69,800 | 657.9 | 1.09% | 16.32% |
| POWERGRID | 1,11,61,969 | 203.2 | 0.99% | 14.62% |
Long unwinding
| Symbol | Current OI | CMP | Price change (%) | OI change (%) |
| JKCEMENT | 71,925 | 3,358.40 | -2.19% | -47.45% |
| RECLTD | 1,48,98,000 | 134.3 | -0.89% | -31.37% |
| WHIRLPOOL | 1,64,000 | 2,195.95 | -1.03% | -30.49% |
| ATUL | 25,350 | 8,511.05 | -1.75% | -29.88% |
| SYNGENE | 6,18,800 | 578.55 | -1.30% | -26.79% |
(Decrease in open interest and price)
Short-covering
| Symbol | Current OI | CMP | Price change (%) | OI change (%) |
| APLLTD | 8,84,400 | 778.4 | 1.92% | -35.07% |
| AARTIIND | 15,07,050 | 936.3 | 0.75% | -34.29% |
| FSL | 34,03,400 | 174.45 | 2.38% | -27.50% |
| COALINDIA | 2,78,50,200 | 158.6 | 1.54% | -24.60% |
| GSPL | 6,05,200 | 311 | 0.66% | -23.88% |
Short build-up
| Symbol | Current OI | CMP | Price change (%) | OI change (%) |
| CIPLA | 50,44,650 | 895.4 | -1.54% | 33.63% |
| TRENT | 11,86,825 | 1,089.75 | -2.06% | 32.74% |
| CROMPTON | 7,26,000 | 435.85 | -2.14% | 29.09% |
| MARUTI | 11,91,000 | 7,636 | -2.68% | 28.81% |
| PIDILITIND | 11,80,250 | 2,251 | -3.89% | 27.13% |
(Increase in open interest and decrease in price)
Bharti Airtel, Adani Enterprises, Adani Green, Birlasoft, Rajesh Exports, Escorts, Carborundum Universal and Raymond were among the 17 stocks in the BSE 500 index that hit 52-week highs.
52-week lows
Three stocks in the broadest gauge on the bourse hit the trough: AstraZeneca Pharma, Spandana Sphoorty Financial and Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning.
(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)
First Published: Nov 24, 2021 6:44 PM IST
