Sensex, Nifty fail to hold record highs, investors lose Rs 2.4 lakh cr; watch out for these levels on Friday

Indian share market failed to hold record high hit in intraday and closed in the red on Thursday. BSE Sensex plunged 785 points from a record high of 50,184 to hit an intraday low of 49,398.86. While, at the close, most of the losses were recovered and Sensex ended 167 points or 0.34 per cent down at 49,625. While Nifty 50 index settled below the crucial 14,600, after hitting an all-time high of 14753.55 in intraday deals. Market breadth favoured the bears as 1,909 stocks declined while 1,111 scrips advanced. Moreover, during the day, BSE market capitalisation rose to a record high of Rs 199 lakh crore, but it fell to Rs 196.6 lakh crore at the close. India VIX, the volatility index, ended nearly 3 per cent higher at 22.18 levels. The broader markets too underperformed the equity benchmarks, with S&P BSE MidCap index falling 0.88 per cent or 168 points to 18,988.32. While S&P BSE SmallCap index declined 0.68 per cent or 128.29 points to settle at 18,615.10.

Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA, Consulting Technical Analyst, Gemstone Equity Research & Advisory Services

The markets behaved much on the anticipated lines. Sensex tested the historical 50k marked and saw profit-taking as well. The session also stated thoroughly influenced by the weekly options expiry. Highest CALL OI at 14750 ensured nifty not going above that point. Tomorrow, Nifty’s behaviour at 14650 will be crucial. If the index stays above this, then some up move can be expected. If not, then we may see the markets slipping back inside the broad consolidation zone.

Abhishek Chinchalkar, CMT Charterholder and Head of Education, FYERS

After opening at record highs tracking strong cues from Wall Street and Asia, Indian markets gradually extended their gains further, partly underpinned by a strong up move in market heavyweight Reliance Industries. However, markets came under heavy selling pressure in the last hour of the session, during which Nifty tumbled over 200 points while Sensex cracked over 600 points to slide back underneath the psychological 50000 levels. Both the indices managed to rebound slightly from their lows, before ending the session with modest losses. Given the steep and swift decline in the last hour of the session, it will be interesting to observe the price action during the first hour of the session tomorrow. If Nifty and Sensex fail to climb back above last week’s high of 14653 and 49795, respectively, we could see further profit-taking pressure towards 14500 for Nifty and 49000 for Sensex.

Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments

We witnessed nervousness around the 14750 level and the Nifty erased all its gains to close in the red. However, the trend continues to remain positive and we still have a pending target of 14800-14900. Since the support of 14300 continues to hold, a favourable risk to reward trade can be initiated with a target of 14800 and a stop of closing below 14300.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services

It is important to appreciate that the market is overvalued from the short- term perspective. At high levels, the market is vulnerable to a correction. Investors can utilize the current euphoria to get rid of low-grade stocks from the portfolio