Domestic equity benchmarks ended flat with a positive bias on the expiry session of August F&O contracts. S&P BSE Sensex closed the day at 55,949 while the NSE Nifty 50 ended at 16,637 — both gaining 0.01%. Reliance Industries was the top Sensex gainer, helping the index stay afloat in the green. RIL jumped 1.29%, followed by M&M, HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank. On the other end, Bharti Airtel was the worst performer of the day, falling 4.18%. It was followed by Maruti Suzuki India, SBI, and Power Grid. Bank Nifty surged 0.09% to end at 35,617. India VIX gained marginally to end at 13.54. Broader markets, except Nifty Midcap 50, outperformed the benchmarks for the second day straight.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities-
“Nifty erased the morning gains and ended another day without much change on Aug 26. Nifty has once again started to form flat closes day after day, like it did in Aug 05-11 period. However post Aug 11, the Nifty broke upwards of the range closes. Advance decline ratio fell compared to the previous day but is still at 1:1, suggesting some deterioration in the broader market sentiments. As long as Nifty is not able to post healthy day on day gain, the broader market will struggle to bounce up. 16712-16603 is the band for Nifty for the near term and any breach either way could take the Nifty in that direction.”
Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research, Kotak Securities–
“The market witnessed a lackluster activity on account of F&O expiry, although the August series witnessed robust activity with a momentum of over 950 points. On technical charts, Nifty has formed a double top formation. The narrow range activity near the 16700 resistance level indicates indecisiveness between the bulls and bears. For the traders, 16680 could be the immediate hurdle. However, we can expect a quick uptrend rally up to 16725-16775 levels if the index succeeds to clear the intraday resistance of 16680. Below the same, the correction wave could continue up to 16560-16520 levels.”
Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments –
“Today was an uneventful day of trade and that is because of the monthly expiry. However, it’s good that we are still trading above 16600. This allows the Nifty to scale higher to 16800-16850. Until 16400 does not break on a closing basis, the trend of the market continues to remain bullish and traders can use choppy or bearish sessions to accumulate long positions.”
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services –
“Amid weak global cues, the domestic market traded cautiously with a positive bias. Renewed tension between China and US along with the fear of rise in the Delta variant capped the gains in the Asian market. Investors globally are awaiting the Fed Reserve’s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday to gain insights on asset tapering plans and economic outlook.”
Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities –
“Index closed flat for the second consecutive day at 16637 and formed a Doji sort of candle pattern for the second consecutive session. The index has formed a strong hurdle zone around 16700 until index won’t cross above-said level we may see capping to northward move and we may also see a profit booking towards the 16500 zone which strong base on the downside where traders can initiate fresh long keeping stop out level below 16400 zone on a closing basis, if manage to break above 16700 we may see a quick move towards 17k mark.”
Jay Thakkar VP and Head of Equity Research at Marwadi Shares and Finance Limited –
“Nifty closed flat on the day of August expiry which is quite unusual as on the days on F&O expiry the Index generally has wild swings. The range is quite narrow for the short term wherein 16700 is a clear resistance whereas 16500 is immediate support and a breakout on either side can lead to a further trending move. The short term momentum indicators are absolutely in favour of the bulls hence the probability of an upside breakout is quite high. The Nifty bank too has been trading sideways and the range of the same is 35400-36000 and a breakout on either side will lead to a further trend.”
