Dalal Street kicked off the week on a muted note, along with the Asian peers. The rise in US stock futures helped make a rebound in the early few minutes, as the benchmark indices fell into red. All eyes will be set on key economic data in the truncated week.
At 9.20 am, the 30 share pack BSE Sensex was trading flat, falling 25.87 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 57,501. NSE's barometer Nifty 50 dropped 12.40 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 16,932. They recovered from the early jitters.
Broader markets underperformed the headline peers as the indices of the BSE midcap and smallcap were in the red. The fear gauge India VIX went up about 4 per cent to 15.81 level.
We are not too far from the sacrosanct support zone of 16,850 -- 16,800, which coincides with the September month swing low and 89 weekly EMA. Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives at Angel One, said we should continue to hope, but at the same time for momentum traders, it is better to wait for some price confirmation once all this negativity subsides on the global as well as domestic front.
On the higher side, 17200 -- 17250 has been acting as a strong wall and the bulls desperately need a convincing breakout beyond this to make a comeback. He said that the volatility will be on the higher side and the apt strategy would be to keep a close eye on global developments and take one step at a time.
The sectoral trends were mixed at the early stages of trade. Nifty Auto index was the top laggard, followed by Nifty Bank index and Nifty FMCG index. Nifty Pharma index rose the most, while the Nifty realty and Nifty Metal indexes also showed strength.
Mahindra Mahindra was among the losers in the Nifty 50 pack as the stock dropped by 2 per cent, Adani Enterprises and Eicher Motors declined more than a per cent each. Titan, Axis Bank, SBI Life and Hero Motocorp were among the laggards.
Apollo Hospitals rose by 2 per cent after a positive compliance outlook and rising Covid 19 cases, according to the Contrary. The Power Grid and ONGC added more than a per cent each. During the early trade, Dr Reddy's, Hindalco and Divis Labs were among the top gainers.
There is an element of uncertainty in global markets. The European banking system is resilient and the European banking system is resilient, and the sharp cut in the European bank index on Friday is a reflection of the fear in the market. Actions by US authorities have brought near-term stability to the US banking system, but we don't know what lies ahead, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
When stability returns, investors should be cautious. After a 25 bp rate hike in the next MPC meeting, interest rates in India are likely to decline towards the end of 2023. He said that a decline in the interest rate scenario is favorable for debt funds.
Morepen Laboratories surged by 7 per cent after a successful USFDA inspection of the API facility in Baddi. After investor analysts met, the Phoenix Mills gained over 6 per cent. Both Thyrocare Technologies and Nahar Polyfilms rose 5 per cent.
Securekloud Technologies' promoters were arrested under money laundering allegations in a lower circuit of 5 per cent. Mahindra CIE Automotive, SEPC and Allcargo Logistics dropped up to 5 per cent, each.