Here’s how analysts read the market pulse:
“As the financial year drew to a close, the market witnessed an upward trend marked by bullish moves in the banking and IT sectors driven by robust global cues. Notably, an increased interest from foreign institutional investors due to the moderation in Indian stock valuations also aided.
While the US market awaits the release of personal consumption expenditures data, which is considered a crucial indicator for forecasting the Federal Reserve’s future actions, domestic investors await the RBI MPC meeting scheduled next week,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.
“The index is likely to test the zone of 17480 – 17500 where resistance in the form of the 200-day moving average and the upper end of the falling channel is placed. During April, Nifty is likely to witness a rebound with IT, energy, metals, capital goods and PSU banks leading from the front,” Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said.
That said, here’s a look at what some key indicators are suggesting for Monday’s action:
US market rallies
Wall Street rallied on Friday and the Nasdaq notched its biggest quarterly percentage gain since June 2020, as signs of cooling inflation bolstered hopes the Federal Reserve might soon end its aggressive interest rate hikes. The benchmark S&P 500 posted a 7% gain for the first quarter, which ended on Friday, rebounding after a nearly 20% drop in 2022. The Nasdaq Composite’s 16.8% first-quarter jump was its biggest quarterly rise since 2020.
European shares close higher
European stock markets closed higher Thursday, continuing positive momentum from the previous three sessions as concerns over the banking sector ease. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 1% higher, with most sectors in the green. Retail stocks led the pack, up 3.7%.
Tech View: Long bull candle
A long bull candle was formed on the daily chart with an unfilled opening upside gap. Technically, this indicates a decisive upside breakout of the hurdle of around 17200-17250 levels. After the formation of a series of lower bottoms over the last few months, the Nifty has moved up sharply after the formation of double bottom type patterns around 16900 levels recently. This is a positive indication.
Stocks showing bullish bias
Momentum indicator Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed bullish trade on the counters of Bharat Electronics, Suzlon Energy, Tata Steel, RIL and IRFC among others.
The MACD is known for signaling trend reversals in traded securities or indices. When the MACD crosses above the signal line, it gives a bullish signal, indicating that the price of the security may see an upward movement and vice versa.
Stocks signaling weakness ahead
The MACD showed bearish signs on the counters of VRL Logistics, Control Print, Sunflag Iron, HPCL and ABM International.
Bearish crossover on the MACD on these counters indicated that they have just begun their downward journey.
Most active stocks in value terms
RIL (Rs 3011 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 2780 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 2252 crore), HDFC (Rs 1294 crore), and Infosys (Rs 1234 crore) were among the most active stocks on NSE in value terms. Higher activity on a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.
Most active stocks in volume terms
Vodafone Idea (Shares traded: 11.44 crore), Yes Bank (Shares traded: 10.13 crore), BEL (Shares traded: 6.44 crore), Suzlon Energy (Shares traded: 6.12 crore) and Zomato (Shares traded: 5.65 crore) were among the most traded stocks in the session on NSE.
Stocks showing buying interest
Shares of Apar Industries, KPIT Technologies, Action Construction, NCC, Bosch, Ultratech Cement, Cadila Healthcare and Godrej Consumer among others witnessed strong buying interest from market participants as they scaled their fresh 52-week highs, signaling bullish sentiment.
Stocks seeing selling pressure
Shares of Vodafone Idea, SIS India, Clean Science and Metropolis Health among others hit their 52-week lows, signaling bearish sentiment on the counters.
Sentiment meter favours bulls
Overall, market breadth favoured bulls as 2393 stocks ended in the green, while 1165 names settled with cuts.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
