Sensex, Nifty end deep in red; are bears coming back to haunt D-Street or is it just profit-booking?

Domestic equity markets ended the week’s last trading session, down deep in red. S&P BSE Sensex plunged 549 points to close at 49,034 while the broader Nifty 50 ended at 14,433. Only 4 Sensex constituents ended the day with gains, including Bharti Airtel, ITC, Bajaj Auto and Bajaj Finance. India VIX or the volatility gauge of domestic markets surged 4% on Friday to end above 24 levels. With this, the volatility index has soared a massive 22% since the beginning of this year. Broader markets mirrored the fall in benchmark indices and closed with losses.

Rusmik Oza, Executive Vice President, Head of Fundamental Research at Kotak Securities-

“The Nifty-50 gained 3.2% while the BSE Sensex gained 2.7% this week. Mid Caps continued to outperform with the Nifty Mid Cap 100 Index gaining 5.2% this week. The MSCI Emerging Market Index has broken the pre GFC peak of 1345 seen in 2007. If it sustains above 1350 for one/two more weeks then it would confirm the break-out and go into a new zone. Any structural up move in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index could also have a positive impact on Indian markets.”

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities –

“Indian Benchmark equity indices ended lower on the back of profit booking on Jan 15 amid weak global cues. Asian shares tripped lower in afternoon trade on Friday, reversing earlier gains as rising COVID-19 cases in China reinforced investor concerns over the prospects for a global economic recovery. The Nifty has given the first signs of reversing after a steep rise. Advance decline ratio has also raised concerns over the last few days of the possibility of a formation of a short term top. 14563-14256 are the resistance/supports for the Nifty in the near term.”

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial services –

“The market opened flat with a negative bias and weak start of European market led to further bleeding with all sectors in the red zone. The $1.9 trillion ‘American Rescue Plan’ failed to uplift the sentiment of the western market. Investors can resort to profit booking as the near future trend of the market will depend on budget expectations, stock wise Q3 result and foreign inflows.”

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities –

“Markets began circumspectly amidst weak job data in the US even as Joe Biden unveiled details of the $1.9 trillion rescue package. Friday’s afternoon trade saw profit taking in IT stocks despite the biggies putting out positive commentary with large deal wins as MCAP to GDP crossed 100% leading to volatility.”

 Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments –

“The support of 14350 was threatened today but the markets bounced from there. Caution must be exercised at the current juncture as the breaking of 14350 could result in a precarious situation where the Nifty can go down to test 14000 almost instantaneously. On the upside, 14700 is the key resistance level to watch out for and unless we do not get past that, we will not resume this uptrend. We should get a clearer picture of Nifty’s direction in the coming week.”