The benchmark indices continued their lull session on Thursday after a steep fall on Wednesday, with the NIFTY50 hovering around flat lines with a negative bias around the 23,430 level. According to reports from Upstox, the weakness persisted across the board, except for the smallcap 100 index, which traded with a positive bias. The Sensex tumbled over 813 points to close at 74,764, while the Nifty50 dropped around 204 points to end the session at 23,431. The losses wiped off over ₹2 lakh crore from the total market capitalisation of all companies listed on BSE, pulling it down to ₹484 lakh crore. This marked the third consecutive day of losses as soaring oil prices and Middle East tensions spooked investors. Latest reports indicate WTI crude has climbed to $96–97 per barrel, while Brent is above $101.50, raising inflation concerns and pushing Treasury yields higher.
The NIFTY 50 index on the daily chart formed a third consecutive sizable bearish candle with a lower high and a lower low and a bearish gap above its head (23,635-23,571), signaling continuation of the corrective decline with the Nifty closing below the July low of 23,606, as per Bajaj Broking. Immediate bias in the index continues to remain down and only a formation of higher high and higher low on a sustained basis in the daily chart will signal a pause in the current down trend. Follow through weakness will signal extension of the last 1-month decline towards then 23,300-23,200 levels in the coming sessions being the 80% retracement of the entire previous up move 23,070-24,774. Pullback attempt from the current oversold territory will face stiff resistance around 23,800-24,000 levels being the recent breakdown area and 20 days EMA. The 23,400-23,300 zone will be crucial in determining whether the decline extends or bargain buying triggers a technical recovery, with markets turning bullish only above 24,000 levels.
Despite the broader market weakness, several stocks demonstrated resilience by crossing their 100 EMA levels. Ola Electric shares surged over 6% on Thursday amid renewed optimism around electric vehicle makers like Ather Energy, with the stock crossing its 100 EMA level of ₹38.5 after hitting an intraday high of ₹40.5 apiece. Similarly, Phoenix Mills shares jumped over 1% amid growing optimism ahead of the festive season, finding strong support near the 100-EMA levels of ₹1,886 apiece on the NSE. Energy was the only sector in the green, advancing 1.7%, providing some support to the broader market decline. Latest data shows Bitcoin trading near $78,250, down about 0.5% over 24 hours, as investors remained cautious ahead of two crucial US inflation releases. Bitcoin continues to struggle below $80,000, with $77,200-$78,000 providing immediate support.
The healthcare sector showed particular strength with Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences jumping 1.7% on Thursday amid broader optimism around hospital stocks. According to Upstox reports, the shares made an intraday high of ₹779 apiece, crossing its 100 EMA level of ₹774 apiece on the NSE. Narayana Hrudayalaya shares also soared nearly 1% on Thursday amid broader optimism around hospital stocks, with the stock crossing its 100 EMA of ₹1,891 apiece as the shares made an intraday high of ₹1,915 apiece on the NSE. Latest market data shows gold and silver ticked higher, supported by a softer dollar as traders awaited key U.S. inflation data, with gold futures edging higher by 0.17% to $4,409.55.
Despite the overall market weakness, the index breadth remained evenly balanced, with 26 stocks trading in the red, 22 in the green, and 2 stocks largely unchanged in the NIFTY50 index. Among the most active stocks on NSE in value terms were Graphite India (₹3,061 crore), HDFC Bank (₹2,714 crore), Coforge (₹1,996 crore), ICICI Bank (₹1,975 crore), Adani Enterprises (₹1,641 crore), Reliance Industries (₹1,563 crore), and BSE (₹1,436 crore). Higher activity in these counters helped identify the ones with the highest trading turnovers in the day. Among the stocks that hit their 52-week highs included Graphite India, Chennai Petro, Paytm, Finolex Cables, Craftsman Automation, Sai Life Science and Redington, while stocks like HDFC Life, Pfizer, KEC International, Wipro, HDFC Bank, Bikaji Foods International and HUL hit their 52-week lows. Latest reports indicate Bitcoin and Ethereum account for some of the largest liquidation pockets at around $83M and $60M respectively, while the global crypto market cap is around $2.78 trillion, up 1.7% in 24 hours.
