Domestic equity benchmarks experienced significant volatility on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex declining 135.03 points, or 0.18%, to settle at 75,183.36. According to ET Now, the index hit a high of 75,945.79 and a low of 74,996.78, gyrating 949.01 points during the session. The Nifty 50 slipped 4.30 points to settle at 23,654.70, with the broader market remaining rangebound throughout the session. As per The Economic Times, the volatility gauge India VIX ended at 17.82, down by 3.34% from the last closing. The market opened with a strong gap-up of around 414 points but failed to sustain higher levels, indicating cautious sentiment and lack of strong buying interest at elevated levels.
Sectoral performance remained mixed with IT declining the most by 0.53%, followed by Focused IT (0.52%), MidSmall Private Banks Quality Tilt (0.46%), Utilities (0.42%), FMCG (0.42%), and Bankex (0.24%). However, Services jumped 1.59%, followed by Capital Goods (1.29%), Industrials (1.08%), Commodities (0.91%), and Telecommunication (0.80%). Among individual stocks, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv and Bharti Airtel were among the major laggards, while InterGlobe Aviation, Trent, Bharat Electronics and Adani Ports were among the winners. Market breadth remained mildly positive with 2,358 stocks witnessing advances, 1,813 seeing declines while 191 stocks remained unchanged out of 4,362 stocks that traded on BSE on May 21. As reported by The Economic Times, 124 stocks hit their 52-week highs while 39 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows.
Hitesh Tailor, Technical Research Analyst at Choice Broking, noted that the BSE Sensex closed at 75,183.36, declining by -135.03 points (-0.18%) following a highly volatile session. According to ET Now, Tailor identified 74,400–74,500 as the immediate support zone while 76,100–76,200 may remain a key resistance area in the near term. Vipin Dixena, SEBI-registered analyst, stated that Sensex continues to trade in a narrow consolidation range between 74,300 support and 75,800 resistance, reflecting lack of strong directional momentum. The index is hovering around the 50 EMA, indicating a neutral-to-cautious near-term setup with RSI remaining around mid-levels. As per The Economic Times, Rupak De from LKP Securities noted that the index faces resistance near the 20EMA on the daily timeframe, with the overall sentiment remaining weak and possibility of further downside in the short term.
US markets traded in the red on Thursday as chip maker Nvidia's earnings failed to inspire confidence on Wall Street. According to The Economic Times, the Dow 30 traded at 49,930.67, falling 78.68 points or 0.16%, while the S&P 500 was 0.46% lower at 7,398.99 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down by 175.41 points or 0.67% to hover around 26,094.95. European markets showed mixed performance with UK's FTSE 100 and Stoxx 600 up 0.30% and 0.25% respectively, while Germany's Dax, French CAC and Spain's IBEX 35 fell up to 0.27%. As per CNBC TV18, the market is in need of a major directional trigger on either side and has almost stopped reacting to global developments.
Market breadth remained mildly positive despite the benchmark decline, with 2,358 stocks witnessing advances, 1,813 seeing declines while 191 stocks remained unchanged out of 4,362 stocks that traded on BSE on May 21. As reported by The Economic Times, 124 stocks hit their 52-week highs while 39 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Among the stocks showing buying interest were Protean eGov Technologies, Grasim Industries, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Electrotherm (India), United Foodbrands, Modi Naturals and Genesys International Corporation. However, significant selling pressure was witnessed in Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Tech Mahindra, along with Ola Electric, Jubilant Foodworks, EPACK Durable, Brand Concepts, Wonder Electricals, Gokul Agro Resources and Flair Writing Industries. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹1,597.35 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
The final trading session will see the market react to analyst commentary on ITC's results for the March quarter, along with numbers reported by Aurobindo Pharma, LIC, Bikaji Foods, LG Electronics India, Honasa Consumer and others that reported results after market hours on Thursday. As per CNBC TV18, important results expected on Friday include Sun Pharma, Hindalco, Torrent Pharma, Info Edge, Colgate-Palmolive, Eicher Motors, Fortis, and Indigo Paints. The market will also monitor developments in West Asia, elevated oil prices, a volatile rupee, and the final Friday before next week's monthly expiry. To end the week with gains, the Nifty needs a close above the 23,643 mark, while sustaining above the 50-DMA is key for the index to prepare for a move back towards the 20-DMA mark above 24,000 levels.
