Meanwhile, the volatility gauge India VIX ended at 20.43, up by 3.70% from the last closing.
Here’s how analysts read the market pulse:
Nilesh Jain, Vice President – Head of Technical and Derivative Research at Centrum Finverse said Nifty is encountering strong resistance near the 24,000 mark. It has formed a small bearish candle on the daily chart amid heightened volatility and going ahead, a decisive breakout above 24,000 is crucial to trigger a potential short-covering rally towards the 24,500 zone.
“On the downside, immediate support is now placed at 23,500 levels. Despite the recent pause, the broader market structure remains positive, and a buy-on-dips strategy continues to be favorable. Momentum indicators and oscillators have turned constructive, reflecting improving market sentiment. Meanwhile, the India VIX is hovering around the 20 mark, and any further decline could provide additional comfort to the bulls,” Jain added.
US markets
Frontline indices on Wall Street showed a surge after opening in red on Thursday as Israel indicated that it was planning to hold peace talks with Lebanon, in line with the conditions for Iran’s ceasefire proposal.
At 1:04 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 337.24 points, or 0.70%, to 48,247.16, the S&P 500 gained 41.07 points, or 0.61%, to 6,823.88, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 160.58 points, or 0.71%, to 22,795.58.
Given how far apart the United States and Iran seem to be in their demands, upward pressure on oil prices may be “here to stay for a while” according to experts.
European Markets
European shares retreated on Thursday, after their strongest rally in over four years, as investors remained wary about a fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire and its implications for oil prices and global inflation. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.2% at 612.59 points, after paring earlier losses following reports Israel and Lebanon could start direct negotiations soon.
Major regional bourses were also lower, with Germany’s DAX down 1.1%, while France’s CAC 40 fell 0.2%.
The UK’s FTSE 100 edged lower and mid cap stocks posted a bigger fall on Thursday after recording their strongest session in months a day earlier.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 0.1% lower at 10,603.5 points and the FTSE 250 was down 1%.
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 that is placed beside the bull candle of Wednesday. This market action signals a consolidation movement in the market after a sharp upside, he said, adding that a bearish chart pattern like lower tops & lower bottoms seems to have negated and present consolidation/weakness is expected to form a new higher bottom of the bullish pattern.
“The near term uptrend of the market remains intact. Nifty is expected to find support around the lows of 23,500 in the next few sessions before bouncing back from the higher lows. Key overhead resistance to be watched around 24,000,” Shetti said.
Most active stocks in terms of turnover
Reliance Industries (RIL, Rs 470 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 403 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 401 crore), Adani Green Energy (Rs 261 crore), Infosys (Rs 256 crore), State Bank of India (SBI, Rs 248 crore) and Bharti Airtel (Rs 234 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 the highest trading turnovers for the day.
Most active stocks in volume terms
Ola Electric (Traded shares: 4.32 crore), Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 2.66 crore), JP Power (Traded shares: 96.80 lakh), Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 70.23 crore), Reliance Power (Traded shares: 62.93 lakh), YES Bank (Traded shares: 59.39 lakh) and HDFC Bank (Traded shares: 50.36 crore) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on BSE.
Stocks showing buying interest
Honasa Consumer, Anand Rathi Wealth, Ola Electric, HFCL, Ola Electric Mobility, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and Priti International were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.
52 Week high
Today, 109 stocks hit their 52 week highs while 28 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Among those that hit their 52-week highs were Accord Transformer & Switchgear, ABB India, Anand Rathi Wealth, Belrise Industries, Dhampure Specialty Sugars, EMA India and Honasa Consumer.
Stocks seeing selling pressure
Among the large cap names were InterGlobe Aviation, Jio Financial Services and HDFC Bank. Other stocks that witnessed significant selling pressure were Jain Resource Recycling, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds, Varvee Global, Nimbus Projects, RPSG Ventures, HMA Agro Industries and Spectrum Electrical Industries.
Sentiment meter favours bears
Heavyweights like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) dragged the markets the most, as the breadth stayed mildly negative in the overall markets. Out of the 4,420 stocks that traded on the BSE on April 9, Thursday, 2,121 stocks witnessed advances, 2,180 saw declines while 119 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)
