Nifty holds 16,600 amid expiry day volatility. Key levels to watch tomorrow

Indian stock markets ended flat on the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts with losses in Bharti Airtel and metal stocks offset by gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries. The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended marginally higher at 16,636.9, while S&P BSE Sensex settled flat at 55,949. The broader markets outperformed with both BSE midcap and smallcap indices ending 0.3% higher. 

Global markets were subdued today with investors cautious ahead of US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the US central bank's annual Jackson Hole symposium tomorrow. 

“The rotational buying in select index majors across sectors is helping the index to maintain the positive bias and inch higher. However, the momentum is still missing due to the continuous underperformance of the banking index. Considering the scenario, we reiterate our view to restrict naked leveraged positions and prefer index majors over others,” said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

Bharti Airtel ended 4.17% lower after the telecom major said it will consider various capital-raising options at a meeting this Sunday.

“Today was an uneventful day of trade and that is because of the monthly expiry. However, it's good that we are still trading above 16600. This allows the Nifty to scale higher to 16800-16850. Until 16400 does not break on a closing basis, the trend of the market continues to remain bullish and traders can use choppy or bearish sessions to accumulate long positions,” said Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.

Reliance Industries was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 1.3%, followed by M&M, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HUL and Nestle India. 

“Nifty has once again started to form flat closes day after day, like it did in Aug 05-11 period. However post Aug 11, the Nifty broke upwards of the range closes. Advance decline ratio fell compared to the previous day but is still at 1:1, suggesting some deterioration in the broader market sentiments. As long as Nifty is not able to post healthy day on day gain, the broader market will struggle to bounce up. 16712-16603 is the band for Nifty for the near term and any breach either way could take the Nifty in that direction,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart, said," Technically, Nifty formed an indecisive Doji candlestick formation near an all-time high for the second day in a row. 16700 is acting as an immediate hurdle but if Nifty manages to sustain above this level then we can expect a short covering move towards the 16900 level. On the downside, 16500 is an immediate psychological support level while 20-DMA of 16332 is critical support at any pullback. Momentum Indicator RSI is in overbought territory but it may remain overbought for some more time."

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