Meanwhile, the volatility gauge India VIX ended at 13.06, down 3.15% from the last closing.
Here’s how analysts read the market pulse:
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities attributed the lackluster trade to Nifty’s movement in a narrow range. The index has been consistently failing to reclaim the 21-EMA on the daily chart, exhibiting an overall lack of strength, De said. “The RSI is in a bearish crossover, indicating weakening momentum. The sentiment is likely to remain weak in the near term, with a possibility of falling towards 25,300. On the higher end, resistance is placed at 25,550–25,600,” he added.
US markets
Wall Street stocks fell in early trading Thursday as markets weighed blowout results from Nvidia against lingering angst over the artificial intelligence boom.
Nvidia shares were choppy but were down around five percent near 1520 GMT. Profits in the just-finished quarter more than doubled to $43 billion.
One worry is that Nvidia “can’t possibly keep delivering such robust growth against the law of large numbers, budding competition, and potentially a scaling back of capex plans for hyperscalers,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
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European Markets
European frontline indices were trading with positive bias. French CAC 40 was the top gainer at 0.7% around 1:15 p.m. CEST (6:01 pm India time). UK’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and Stoxx 600 were up between 0.1% and 0.5% around this time. IBEX 35 was flat, though the bias was negative.
Tech View
Decoding the Nifty charts, Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities said a small negative candle is formed on the daily chart with lower shadow which means lack of strength in the market to sustain the highs.
“Frequent lower highs have been formed recently and the repeated testing of the crucial lower supports was seen around 25,400 levels. This is not a good sign. The underlying trend of Nifty remains choppy. Crucial lower supports to be watched around 25,400-25,350 levels on any weakness from here. Immediate resistance is placed at 25,600,” Shetti said.
Most active stocks in terms of turnover
Eternal (Rs 2,587 crore), Reliance Industries (RIL, Rs 442), Tejas Networks (SBI, Rs 262 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 194 crore), Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company (Rs 165 crore), SpiceJet (Rs 162 crore) and Balkrishna Industries (Rs 241 crore) were among the most active stocks on BSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.
Most active stocks in volume terms
Eternal (Traded shares: 10.53 crore), SpiceJet (Traded shares: 10.37 crore), Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 3.61 crore), IDFC First Bank (Traded shares: 1.15 crore), YES Bank (Traded shares: 89.07 lakh), Tejas Networks (Traded shares: 73.12 lakh) and Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 70.18 lakh) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on BSE.
Stocks showing buying interest
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Eicher Motors, XTglobal Infotech, Tejas Networks, Sanofi Consumer, Orient Electric and Aarey Drugs & Pharmaceuticals were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.
52 Week high
Today, 109 stocks hit their 52 week highs while 258 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Among the ones which hit their 52 week highs included Acutaas Chemicals, Ajanta Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Bank of Baroda (BoB), Canara Bank, Federal Bank and Lupin.
Stocks seeing selling pressure
Among the large cap names were HDFC Bank, Trent and Coal India. Other stocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were Home First Finance, R M Drip and Sprinklers Systems, Emmvee Photovoltaic, Jindal Poly Films, Vikram Solar, VL E-Governance & IT Solutions and Sagility.
Sentiment meter favours bulls
Heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Eternal and Axis Bank dragged the markets with breadth staying negative in the overall markets. Out of the 4,356 stocks that traded on the BSE on February 26, Thursday, 2,080 stocks witnessed advances, 2,124 saw declines while 152 stocks remained unchanged.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)