Nifty ended in the red after three consecutive sessions of gains as investors booked profit amid persisting uncertainty on the front of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The benchmark index opened at 17,519.20 against the previous close of 17,498.25 and touched intraday high and low of 17,559.80 and 17,435.20, respectively. Eventually, the index closed 34 points, or 0.19 percent, lower at 17,464.75.
Nifty FMCG index rose 1.20 percent while the pharma index fell 1.17 percent. Nifty Bank closed with a mild gain of 0.11 percent.
Investors followed global market cues, which were mostly weak as most of them had rallied in the last few sessions on fall in crude oil prices and expectations of some solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. After seeing sharp gyration during the week, investors exercised caution with a negative bias on the expiry day, Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities, observed.
"Technically, after a promising uptrend move, Nifty is currently witnessing a narrow range activity and has formed a small bearish candle near the important resistance level. However, the short-term texture of the market is still on the positive side. For the positional traders, 17,400 and 17,350 would act as key support levels. Above the same, the index could touch the level of 17,600-17,675. On the flip side, below 17,350, the uptrend would be vulnerable," said Chouhan.
Nifty remained range-bound on the expiry session as trading was confined within 125 points. This resulted in yet another indecisive formation for the second day in a row, Mazhar Mohammad, Founder & Chief Market Strategist, Chartviewindia.in, pointed out.
"To regain strength bulls need to get pat 17,560 with a strong upward move. In that scenario, eventually, a higher target of 17,900 can be witnessed. However, on the downside, a close below 17,387 can damage the current positive momentum which may eventually weaken the Nifty towards 17,000. For the time being, traders are advised to remain neutral unless a strong move is visible in the upward direction which can be a buying opportunity for index traders," said Mohammad.
As per Vijay Dhanotiya, Lead of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research, sustaining above 17,400 will be important for the market to stay positive in the short term.
"If the market sustains above the support levels, we expect the market to stay positive till the level of 17,600. We have observed the momentum indicators like RSI and MACD indicating positive side momentum in the market," said Dhanotiya.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of MintGenie.
