It was another lacklustre trading session, as the benchmark index failed to hold on to its early gains. Nifty opened on a positive note and briefly climbed close to the week’s high, but buying interest faded near the previous session’s peak.
Profit booking during the afternoon wiped out the early gains, dragging the index below its intraday lows. A mild recovery in the latter half of the session helped trim losses, with the Nifty settling at 24,072, ending the day almost unchanged.
Among the Nifty constituents, HCL Technologies and InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) were the top gainers, while Eternal and SBI Life Insurance emerged as the biggest losers.
On the sectoral front, the Nifty Chemical and Nifty Consumer Durables indices outperformed, while Nifty Realty and Nifty Financial Services were the worst-performing sectors.
The broader market remained weak, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices closing in the red.
Going into Friday’s session, Indian equities are likely to remain range-bound amid weak global cues and lingering geopolitical tensions in West Asia. With the Q1FY27 earnings season gathering momentum, stock-specific action is expected to dominate.
The IT sector will be in focus after Wipro and Tech Mahindra reported their quarterly earnings after market hours on Thursday. Investors will also track results from Reliance Industries, JSW Steel, Hindustan Zinc, and RBL Bank on Friday.
According to Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities, the Nifty is likely to witness a bounce towards 24,200 and 24,600 as long as it holds above the key support levels of 24,000 and 23,800. Immediate support is placed at 24,000, he said.
Hitesh Rathi of Angel One believes the index remains capped near 24,300 on the upside, while 24,000 is the immediate support. A stronger support zone lies between 23,850 and 23,800.
Vatsal Bhuva of LKP Securities said the Nifty continues to trade in a narrow range, indicating a consolidation phase with a neutral bias. He expects strong support in the 23,950-24,000 zone, while 24,250-24,300 is likely to act as the immediate resistance, followed by a broader hurdle near 24,500.
Given the current technical setup, Bhuva recommends a buy-on-dips near support and sell-on-rise near resistance strategy.
Meanwhile, Sunny Agrawal of SBI Securities said the 50-day EMA zone of 23,960-23,930 will serve as immediate support. A sustained break below 23,930 could trigger further profit booking, dragging the index towards the next key support level of 23,780, Sudeep Shah of SBI Securities.
