Sensex, Nifty end deep in red for third consecutive day; is momentum shifting from bulls to bears?

Domestic equity markets witnessed a volatile trading session on Monday. After starting the day in green, Sensex and Nifty danced between marginal gains and losses for most of the day, only to end deep in red. S&P BSE Sensex closed at 48,347 points while Nifty 50 gave up 14,300. This the third consecutive day when the benchmark indices have fallen to close deep in the red. Reliance Industries was the worst-performing Sensex stock, slipping 5.3%. followed by IndusInd Bank and HCL Technologies. Axis Bank and Sun Pharma were the top gainers, zooming over 2% each.

Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities –

“Today, the market has formed “the three black crows candlestick pattern”. Consisting of three consecutive bearish candles at the end of a bullish trend, the three black crows signals a shift of control from the bulls to the bears. In brief, the Nifty 50 index is heading for 14100/13900 levels, (BSE Sensex 48100/47500), if it breaks 14200 (BSE Sensex 48400) decisively. On the higher side 14350/49000 and 14500/49400 would be crucial levels to surpass and sustain. As the market is falling vertically, we are of the view that ahead of the budget we should look for adding strong stocks and selective stocks to our positional portfolio between 14100/13900 (48100/47500) levels.”

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities-

“Nifty has fallen for the third consecutive session. This has happened after about 4 months. Poor advance-decline ratio hints at broader profit-taking. Pre Budget nervousness has resulted in some unloading. Locking up of large sums in the recent IPOs have also led to this sell-off. 14123-14148 is the next support band for the Nifty.”

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services-

“Indian markets witnessed a highly volatile trade and closed in red due to weak global market and reports of Indo-China border tension. The downside was equally contributed by all the sectors except pharma which traded in the green. Policy decisions of the US Fed meeting which will commence tomorrow will drive the global market in the coming days. We have seen Indian markets being highly volatile these days and this trend is expected to continue this week as we inch closer to the Union Budget.”

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities-

“A Volatile session of trade today which saw selling in heavyweights despite strength seen in pockets like 2 Wheelers & Pharmaceuticals. Event-specific price action was seen in Paint Sector stocks while Tyre stocks succumbed to profit-booking.”

Sumeet Bagadia Executive Director Choice Broking –

“Technically, the benchmark index has been trading in its Upward Rising Channel Formation since the last many days which is a continuation formation and indicates an upside movement. Moreover, it has been trading above its 21 days moving average which shows a positive trend for the time being. At present, Nifty has strong support of 14200 level which is a lower band of the formation as well as recent bottom also placed at 14200 level while upside resistance comes at 14500.”

Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities –

“One more volatile session ended on a negative note as nifty closed a day at 14239 with loss of nearly one per cent and formed three black crows candle pattern which is bearish in nature. The index has breached all good support which hints if index managed to sustain below today’s low then index may hit 14k mark soon which is strong support on the downside, on the higher side now index has good resistance near 14350-14440 zone again that would be profit booking levels for longs.”