Indian benchmark indices closed mild in red as bulls and bears fought for dominance on Dalal Street. Nifty fell to a day’s low of 18,202 but staged a smart recovery of over 180 points to close in red at 18,385, down 0.19%. Sensex settled at 61,702, after paring losses to recoup almost 600 points from an intraday low of 61,102. Broader markets closed in red, and the sectoral indices followed suit. Tata Motors and Hindustan Unilever were the day’s biggest losers. “The Bank of Japan shocked global markets in a totally unexpected move by raising the upper band limit for the 10 yr yield to 50 bps, which is seen as a step towards a hawkish policy shift. This has aggravated the sell-off in the global market, which was already risk-averse due to mounting recessionary fears following the Fed’s comment. In this backdrop, the US GDP numbers expected on Thursday will provide a picture of the strength of the US economy,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities
Nifty closed marginally in the negative after recovering sharply from the morning lows on December 20. Nifty recovered post noon after the negative effect of the unexpected hawkish move by Bank of Japan to widen the band of long term yields, withered off. Nifty closed 0.19% or 35.2 points lower at 18385.3.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities
Markets struggled through the session and ended in red due to weak global cues, but managed to recoup most of its early losses. The choppy trend can be attributed to lack of fresh positive triggers. Also investors are awaiting the release of the minutes of the RBI’s recently concluded monetary policy on Wednesday, which could give some clarity on the central bank’s likely course of action in the near term.
Technically, after early morning sharp intraday selloff the index took support near 18200 and recovered from the day’s low level. Currently the market is witnessing a non directional activity and perhaps traders are waiting for either side to breakout. For bulls, 18450 would be the important breakout level to watch. And if the market manages to trade above the same, then we can expect a quick uptrend rally towards 18550-18600. On the flip side, trading below 18200 may increase further weakness up to 18100-18050.