Taking Stock: Market snaps 4-day winning streak; Nifty below 23,350, Sensex down 330 pts

According to fresh market updates, Indian equity indices snapped their four-day winning streak and ended below the 23,350 mark in a volatile session on September 22, dragged by selling in Information Technology, PSU Bank and oil & gas stocks.

The market opened elevated on supportive global cues but came under pressure in the initial hours, with the Nifty hitting a day's low of 23,285.75. A fifth consecutive day decline in Brent crude prices, which eased below $100 a barrel, offered some relief, but the benchmarks remained in negative territory and closed softer.

At close, the Sensex was down 329.91 points or 0.44 percent at 74,529.08, and the Nifty was down 85.30 points or 0.36 percent at 23,329.

Broader markets additionally ended softer, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices closing marginally down.

Biggest Nifty losers were Tata Consumer Products, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle, Bajaj Finance, Grasim Industries, while gainers included Coal India, Interglobe Aviation, Eternal, Titan Firm and Dr Reddy's Labs.

On the sectoral front, Media index rose 1%, and Realty index further noted 0.9%, while IT index shed nearly 1% and FMCG, PSU Bank, Pharma, Oil & Gas down 0.5% each.

More than 160 stocks touched 52-week high, including JSW Infra, Syrma SGS, Welspun Living, Engineers India, Shyam Metalics, Welspun Corp, Apar Industries, Laurus Labs, Ipca Labs, ACME Solar, Aegis Vopak and Aegis Logistics, among others. Click to View More

Nearly 100 stocks touched 52-week low, including Gujarat Energy, Tata Elxsi, Voltas, P&G Hygiene, KPIT Technologies, United Breweries, Wipro, IRB Infra, Kama Holdings, Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands, among others. Click to View More

Among individual stocks, Blue Star shares eased 2% after Jefferies maintained a 'Hold' rating with a target price of Rs 1,635. Meesho jumped 9% after UBS maintained a 'Buy' rating and boosted its target price to Rs 260. Unicommerce Esolutions shares jumped 5 percent on partnership with The Sleep Firm.

Sansera Engineering advanced 7% after Goldman Sachs maintained a 'Buy' rating and boosted its target price to Rs 4,990. Augmont Enterprises declined 4% after the firm's earnings declined 15.3%, while Pine Labs advanced nearly 5% after 4.97 crore shares changed hands in a block deal. Lumino Industries declined 4% despite a 32.4% climb in earnings.

Transrail Lighting shares surged 15% on increasing conductor manufacturing capacity, Pace Digitek advanced 9% after its subsidiary secured a Rs 488.46-crore order from NTPC GE Power Services, while Aequs rose nearly 5% as its board is set to consider a proposal for a preferential offering of warrants.

Indian indian rupee ended 22 paise softer at 95.59 per dollar on Tuesday versus Monday’s close of 95.81.

Outlook for September 23

Sudeep Shah, Head – Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities

On the weekly expiry day, the benchmark index Nifty opened with a marginal upside gap but failed to sustain at elevated marks, witnessing gradual selling pressure through most of the session. That stated, a mild recovery in the final hour helped the index trim some losses, and it eventually settled at 23329, down 0.36%. On the daily chart, the index formed a bearish candle, indicating continued softness in the near term.

Technically, Nifty stays under pressure as it keeps trade below its key short-term and long-term moving averages. In addition, the daily RSI stays positioned in the bearish zone, reflecting weak momentum.

Going forward, the zone of 23450-23500 is likely to act as an important resistance area for the index. A sustained move above 23500 could extend the ongoing pullback surge towards the 23650 mark in the short term.

On the downside, the 23230-23200 zone will serve as a crucial backing area. A breach below 23200 could weaken the near-term structure and may result in the index resuming its corrective trend.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities

Today, the key market indices experienced earnings booking at elevated marks. The Nifty ended 85 points softer, while the Sensex was down by 330 points. Among sectors, the Media index advanced the most, rallying 1.20 percent, whereas the IT index was the top loser, shedding nearly 1 percent.

Technically, after a muted open throughout the day, the market faced selling pressure at elevated marks. From the day’s high points, the Nifty and Sensex shed over 200 and 500 points, respectively.

We believe that 23,300/74,500 and 23,250/74,300 stay firm backing zones for traders. Above these marks, the market could bounce back to 23,500-23,575/75,000-75,300. On the flip side, below 23,250/74,300, selling pressure is likely to accelerate. Below these marks, the chances of hitting 23,100-23,050/74,000-73,700 would gain.