Mumbai, January 25
In a volatile trading session marked by profit booking in domestic equities, the Nifty experienced a significant dip of over 200 points on the monthly Futures and Options (F&O) expiry day. However, the market managed to stage a partial recovery towards the end, with the Nifty closing at 21,352, reflecting a loss of 101 points or 0.5%.
While the broader market presented a mixed picture, with the Midcap 100 index declining by 0.5% and the Smallcap 100 index gaining 0.5%, sectoral performance varied. Selling pressure was observed in the IT, Pharma, and FMCG sectors, while oil & gas, realty, and PSUs garnered buying interest.
Notable among the influencing factors were the disappointing financial results from Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank, weighing particularly on the IT and private banking segments. Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, pointed out that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been predominantly sellers in January, offloading more than 30,000 units so far.
Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, commented on the short-term trend of Nifty, characterizing it as choppy with a weak bias. He highlighted potential strong resistance levels around 21,500-21,600 in the upcoming sessions, cautioning that any further weakness might find support around 21,100-21,000 levels in the near term. As market participants navigate these fluctuations, the sentiment remains influenced by a combination of global cues, sector-specific dynamics, and corporate performance.
