The Indian stock market witnessed range-bound activity last week with key benchmark indices showing resilience. The Nifty 50 index ended 0.53% higher at 24,334, while the Sensex gained 571 points to finish at 78,151. Among sectoral indices, IT and Consumer were the top performers, with the IT index rallying 4.2% and the Consumer index gaining 2.9%. However, the Capital Market, Tourism, and Realty indices were the worst performers, shedding more than 2.5% each. As reported by Live Mint, the market consistently found support near the 20-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) around the 24,000/77,000 levels, with Friday witnessing a sharp rebound that is largely a positive sign.
Vaishali Parekh, Vice President — Technical Research at Prabhudas Lilladher, believes the Nifty 50 index is on the cusp of a possible breakout at 24,400 levels. According to reports from Live Mint, she stated that despite a narrow rangebound session, the Nifty 50 index indicated a bullish candle formation on the daily chart to end above the 24,300-zone and maintain an optimistic approach for the coming sessions. The 50-stock index would have the important near-term support positioned at the 23,800 level, which needs to be sustained to maintain the overall bias intact. Technically, the market has formed a bullish candle on the weekly charts and is maintaining a higher-bottom formation on the daily charts, supporting the possibility of a further uptrend from current levels.
Regarding the Bank Nifty outlook, Parekh noted that the index indicated a strong bullish candle on the daily chart and is sustaining the important support zone of the 200-period MA at 57,300 level. As reported by Live Mint, the Bank Nifty index would have the near-term support at the 50-EMA zone at 56,500 level, which needs to be sustained to maintain the overall bias intact. On the upside, a decisive breach above the resistance hurdle of 58,600 zone is anticipated to trigger for a breakout and thereafter, expect for further fresh upward move in the coming days. However, recent developments show the Bank Nifty opened in the red near the 57,800 zone and remained flat for the rest of the session to end near the 57,950 zone, with the index continuing to be in a rangebound zone for quite some time.
The Indian stock market is expected to open on a subdued note as investors remain cautious amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, elevated crude oil prices, persistent foreign portfolio investor (FPI) selling, and continued weakness in the Indian rupee. As reported by Live Mint, early trends in GIFT Nifty, trading around 24,124 compared with the Nifty's previous close of 24,238, point to a gap-down opening for domestic markets. Despite these headwinds, Vaishali Parekh maintains that the Indian stock market bias is positive as long as the Nifty 50 index remains above 23,800. Regarding today's recommendations, she has recommended three stocks for intraday trading: Hindustan Oil Exploration Company at ₹161 with a target of ₹166 and stop loss at ₹157, IEX at ₹124 with a target of ₹130 and stop loss at ₹122, and Fermenta Biotech at ₹440 with a target of ₹460 and stop loss at ₹430. These recommendations reflect updated market conditions and technical analysis from the current session.
