Dalal Street’s gaining streak came to a halt on Wednesday as benchmark indices closed in the red, giving up their intra-day gains in the dying hour of trade. S&P BSE Sensex closed 206 points or 0.34% lower at 61,143 while NSE Nifty 50 dropped 57 points or 0.31% to end at 18,210. Midcap and small-cap indices outperformed benchmark indices. Entering the monthly Futures and Options expiry session, SGX Nifty was up in the green, hinting at a flat to positive start to the day’s trade. Global cues were mixed as Wall Street indices closed with losses but some Asian stock markets traded in the positive territory.
Global watch: On Wall Street, NASDAQ ended flat but Dow Jones fell 0.74%, followed by a 0.51% drop in S&P 500. Among Asian markets, Hang Seng, KOSPI and KOSDAQ were trading with gains while Shanghai Composite, Topix, and Nikkei 225 were all down in the red.
Technical take: Nifty traded in the green on Wednesday before slipping into the negative territory during the late hours. “A reasonable negative candle was formed on the daily chart, that has engulfed the previous bull candle of Tuesday,” said Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities. “Technically, this pattern signals an inability of bulls to sustain the highs. This weak upside bounce indicates bear’s dominance in the market,” he added.
Levels to watch out for: Dalal Street may see heightened volatility on the monthly futures and options expiry session. “For the bulls, 18100 would be the key support level and if Nifty breaches the level, there is a strong possibility of a quick intraday pullback rally up to 18300-18350 levels. On the other hand, the dismissal of 18100 could open another round of correction wave up to 18060-18000,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities.
FII and DII trades: Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) have now been net sellers of domestic equities for the seventh day straight. FIIs pulled out Rs 1,913 crore from domestic markets on Wednesday. Domestic Institutional Investors (DII) were net buyers for the fifth consecutive session, pumping in Rs 472 crore.
IPO watch: Nykaa’s IPO will open for subscription today. The fashion e-commerce brand has managed to raise Rs 2,395.84 crore from 174 anchor investors ahead of the IPO. Anchor investors have been allocated 21,296,397 shares at the upper price band. Investors can bid for the IPO in the price band of Rs 1,085-1,125 per share.