Will Sensex, Nifty extend rally to 7th day? 6 things to know before today’s opening bell

Domestic equity market benchmarks BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 have been rallying for six consecutive sessions now, driven by Union Budget optimism. Indian share markets are likely to open flat to positive in Tuesday’s session. S&P BSE Sensex reached a fresh all-time high on Monday and closed above the 51,300-mark for the first time ever. While the broader 50-stock NSE Nifty too claimed fresh highs and closed above 15,100. The broad-based rally was supported by positive global cues, progress in US fiscal stimulus talks and continued buying by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). The investor sentiment was further boosted by RBI’s announcement to buy bonds worth Rs 20,000 crore through open market operations.

SGX Nifty trades flat: Nifty futures were trading 25 points or 0.17 per cent up at 15,167 on Singaporean Exchange in early trade, hinting at a flat start for BSE Sensex and Nifty 50.

Nifty 50 likely to move towards 15,500: “The underlying trend of Nifty continues to be positive and one may expect further upside in the short term. the next upside levels to be watched around 15500, which is at 1.618% fibonacci extension (connected from Jan 20 top to March 20 bottom). This could be achieved in the next one week. Immediate support is placed at 14960,” said Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

Support and resistance levels: The market has established one more bullish candlestick formation on a daily chart, however, it has left unfilled an exhaustion gap that would invite short term weakness if the Nifty/Sensex breaks below the level of 15040/51140, according to Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities. He added that on the higher side, hurdles would be at 15190/51500 and at 15270/51750 levels. “The strategy should be to take profit on long positions between 15150 and 15250 (51500/51750 for the Sensex). Expect a short-term weakness below the level of 15040/51140 levels. Supports would be at 15040/51140 and at 14850/50500 levels,” Chouhan said.

FII and DII trends: On Monday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) lapped up shares worth Rs 1,876.6 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 504.86 crore on a net basis in the Indian equity market, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

Q3 earnings today: A total of 219 companies including Tata Steel, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Aries Agro, Aster DM Healthcare, BASF India, Berger Paints India, Burger King India, Central Bank of India, Chalet Hotels, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Endurance Technologies, Future Retail, among others are slated to announce their quarterly earnings later in the day.

Global watch: Following overnight gains on Wall Street, Asian stock markets were trading mostly higher ion Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising 0.32%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.88%. Wall Street reached all-time closing highs on Monday with Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.76%. The S&P 500 gained 0.74% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.95 per cent.