Nifty opened lower at 18,127.05 and fell down to as low as 17,958.80 before rising to 17,999.20, at which it ended the day.
The Nifty, after the recent bounce, had faced resistance near 61.8 per cent retracement of the fall from 18,604 to 17,613 as well as near the upper end of a rising channel on the hourly chart. Thereon, the index had seen selling pressure, which intensified today.
Heated selling in banking, oil & gas and realty stocks weighed heavily on benchmark indices as higher inflation remains a key concern for markets, said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities.
“For day traders, 18,060 would be the immediate resistance level, and if the index slips below the same, the correction wave could continue up to 17,900-17,830 levels. On the other hand, 18,060 would be the key intraday breakout level for the bulls, and above the same, the index could move up to 18,100-18,1235 levels,” he said.
Analysts pointed out that Nifty seems to be in a consolidation zone, at least in the medium term. And what is more, there is no clear direction that analysts note.
“Nifty50 seems to be in a consolidation mode as it is alternating between positive and negative candles without any clear cut direction. However, close observation of the last 11 trading sessions reveal that Nifty50 is making a channelled move,” said Mazhar Mohammad, Founder & Chief Market Strategist, Chartviewindia.in.
“For strength, it needs to get past the said channel with a breakout which can occur once bulls manage a strong close above 18,210 levels. In that scenario strength shall initially expand towards 18,342 levels,” he added.
