Friday, however, remained largely range-bound, with the rebound seen over the last couple of sessions facing stiff resistance near the crucial 23,800 mark.
Nifty started Friday’s session on a positive note and extended gains to touch an intraday high of 23,839. However, selling pressure at higher levels dragged the index lower towards the day’s low.
The benchmark largely traded within a narrow range through the session and eventually settled at 23,644, up 0.19%. Despite the late-week recovery, Nifty ended the week with losses of over 2%, closing marginally below the 23,650 mark.
On the sectoral front, Nifty Media emerged as the top gainer, followed by Nifty IT. On the other hand, Nifty Metal and Nifty Oil & Gas ended the session in the red.
Among individual stocks, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories were the top gainers, while Hindalco Industries and Eternal ended lower.
The Midcap 100 Index witnessed a pullback over the last three sessions from its 20-day EMA, keeping its positive near-term trend intact. The index traded in a narrow range for most of the day before slipping in the latter half of the session to settle at 60,567, down 0.45%.
The Smallcap Index also managed to hold above its 20-day EMA for the third consecutive session. Buying interest near the 20-day EMA over the past few sessions helped the index remain resilient despite a throwback of nearly 4.8% from its recent highs.
According to Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities, the underlying trend of Nifty remains choppy. Shetti expects Nifty to oscillate within the broader 23,800-23,200 range over the coming week.
Rajesh Bhosale of Angel One said the 23,400-23,100 zone is likely to act as a key support area going ahead. A decisive breach below this range could trigger further downside towards the 22,700 mark and lower levels thereafter.
On the upside, Bhosale expects resistance in the 23,900-24,200 zone, which coincides with the 20 DEMA and 50 DEMA.
Beyond this, the recent swing high near 24,600, aligned with the 89 EMA, remains a crucial hurdle in the near term. He believes Nifty is likely to consolidate within the 23,100-23,900 range, with the next meaningful directional move expected only after a breakout from this band.
Rupak De of LKP Securities said Nifty slipped from the support-turned-resistance zone of 23,800.
De added that the index may witness renewed selling pressure if it falls below 23,500. A breach below this level could drag Nifty towards 23,150 and possibly lower levels in the near term.
Meanwhile, the Bank Nifty index shrugged off its initial weakness and moved higher during the session. However, the index faced stiff resistance around the 54,320-54,325 zone on two occasions.
Subsequent profit booking at higher levels pulled the index back towards the day’s low, with Bank Nifty ending the session at 53,710, down 0.77%.
According to Sudeep Shah of SBI Securities, immediate support for Bank Nifty is placed in the 53,300-53,200 zone. Any sustained move below this range could extend weakness towards 52,800, followed by 52,400 in the short term. On the upside, immediate resistance is seen in the 54,100-54,200 zone.
