Raja Venkatraman recommends three stocks for 15 September

Sectoral performance was mixed, with Pharma and Healthcare offering some stability, while IT, FMCG, Realty, and Metals faced selling pressure. Broader markets outperformed, with midcaps and smallcaps managing modest gains, and over 180 stocks hitting fresh 52-week highs, reflecting strength in select pockets. Technically, the Nifty slipped below the 24,000 mark, forming lower highs on weekly charts, signalling short-term weakness. Analysts expect consolidation to continue, with key support around 23,700–23,800 and resistance near 24,000.

Outlook for Trading

Global cues continue to test the patience of financial markets, keeping traders on edge with a mix of uncertainty and volatility. Elevated crude oil prices remain a persistent concern, adding pressure to inflationary expectations and weighing on sentiment across emerging economies. At the same time, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and shifting signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve on interest rate policy have amplified caution. Weakness in global equities, coupled with fluctuating bond yields and currency movements, has further complicated the outlook, leaving investors hesitant to commit aggressively. While occasional positive triggers such as resilient economic data or easing commodity prices provide short-lived relief, the broader narrative remains one of consolidation and defensive positioning. In this environment, patience and discipline are being tested, as markets await clearer direction from global central banks and geopolitical developments before resuming a sustained trend.

This has now impacted the trends as they begin to drag the market lower, as we see the second week in succession on the weekly charts, where the prices are closing below the MA Bands that had held the prices between the bands. However, the negative pressure that we have been witnessing is now beginning to show its impact. The higher timeframe charts are clearly indicating that the trends are under pressure and the inability to reclaim 24500 redefines this level as an important zone to close on a weekly basis.

To get a better perspective, we dipped into a lower timeframe to find out how to action the current condition, and we note that the volatility is bound to persist, and the absence of rebound from lower channel support, as we have been highlighting for the past few weeks, indicates that the trends will remain volatile. The RSI shown on the daily chart of Nifty is indicating that the underlying weakness continues to persist and hence it's best to have a measured approach as we participate in the market. The lower bounds continue to remain around 23800, which remains a challenge, and unless this is given up decisively, we should be looking to use a dip buy and rally sell approach to participate. The only solace that one can gather from the sudden revival that we witnessed on Friday is the exit of some weekly positions.

There is no attempt to cover the shorts; the lack of buying interest is keeping the lid on the recovery scenario. With the continued attempt to head into a weak zone out of a ranging action, a possible short covering action may emerge today. Now, we can observe that Nifty would look at 23650, which is the immediate resistance as we head into the last trading day of the week. The trends seem brittle, so one has to be wary of what lies ahead.

Raja Venkatraman is co-founder, NeoTrader. His Sebi-registered research analyst registration no. is INH000016223.

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