Trade Setup for Dec 15: SGX points to a weak start with the Nifty 50 placed at a key hurdle

The Nifty 50 index will look for directional clarity in today's weekly options expiry session with the FOMC rate decision overhang now out of the way. On expected lines, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50 basis points overnight.

However, the central bank called for more rate hikes going ahead, as a result of which benchmark indices on Wall Street ended lower.

Back home, Indian equities ended Wednesday's trading session with minor gains. The Nifty Bank posted a record close for the second straight day, this time above the 44,000 mark. Broader markets were the outperformers with the midcap index ending with gains of 1 percent.

In an interaction with CNBC-TV18 on Wednesday, Dhiraj Agarwal of Ambit Capital said that it is futile to expect a runaway rally in the Nifty 50 index at this juncture. However, he added that the sentiment in the market remains positive and that may take the index to levels of 21,000 - 21,500 at best.

Rupak De of LKP Securities expects the trend on the Nifty 50 index to remain on the positive side as long as the index holds above the mark of 18,500. On the upside, he expects a directional upmove only above levels of 18,700. Until then, he expects the Nifty to remain in this 200 point range.

The Nifty Bank index closed above the 44,000 mark, which has the highest Open Interest build up on the Call side. Kunal Shah of LKP Securities says that the index must sustain above that level for the upside momentum to continue towards levels of 45,000. He expects the private banks to fire and lead the momentum after the rally seen in state-run lenders.

Asian equities have opened lower this morning after the US Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points to the highest level in 15 years.

The Nikkei 225 index trades 0.6 percent lower as investors also digest trade data from Japan and South Korea. The Kospi index is also trading lower by half-a-percent in South Korea.

Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday after Fed chair Jerome Powell indicated more rate hikes going forward to meet the central bank's 2 percent inflation target. The Dow Jones fell 150 points while the S&P 500 ended with cuts of 0.6 percent.

Rupal Bhansali of Ariel Investments, in an interaction with CNBC-TV18 on Wednesday said that the world is moving from quantitative easing to quantitative tightening. She cited deflation of the valuation multiples in case the risk premium moves higher and that may act as a downward force for the market. "That is true of all equities over the world and India will be no exception," she said.

The short-term trend of the Nifty 50 index remains positive, according to Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities. However, the index, which is now placed at a crucial 18,650 resistance level is not showing any strength to surpass that mark decisively. A decisive move above 18,650 or 18,700 levels can bring the bulls back into the market, according to Shetti. On the downside, he sees support for the index at levels of 18,490.

For today's weekly options expiry, the 18,900 strike call of the Nifty 50 index added 18 lakh shares in Open Interest. The 18,700 call and the 18,800 call added 17 lakh and 15.7 lakh shares respectively.

On the downside, the 18,650 put added 36 lakh shares and the 18,600 strike added close to 19 lakh shares in Open Interest.

Indiabulls Housing Finance has entered the F&O ban from today's session while stocks like GNFC, Delta Corp and BHEL remain in the ban.