Indian equity, currency and derivatives markets will remain closed for trading on 18 March, Friday as Dalal Street along with the nation will observe Holi. Commodity markets will be closed for the morning session. However, it will open in the evening. As weekend follows Holi, market will resume trading on 21 March, Monday. Later this month, stock market will again remain closed on 26 and 27 due to the weekly holiday. In the previous session, domestic equity were dominated by bulls on the weekly Futures & Options expiry session. While S&P BSE Sensex rose 1,047 points or 1.84% to settle at 57,863, NSE Nifty 50 index zoomed 311 points or 1.84% to close at 17,287. Broader markets mirrored the up-move. Bank Nifty ended 1.9% higher at 36,428, while India VIX closed 6.26% lower at 22.61 levels.
Nifty could remain in the 17639-16843 band
“Nifty has risen sharply over the past few days, as the immediate concern issues (war, crude oil prices and US Fed meet outcome) seem to have gone out of the way. The momentum remains strong as the mid and smallcap stocks have started to participate in the upmove as is reflected from the positive advance decline ratio. High volumes number suggest that FPIs have returned as buyers. Nifty could remain in the 17639-16843 band for the next few sessions,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
How to trade next week
Prashanth Tapse, Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities
“Nifty bulls celebrated Holi with green while short sellers got squeezed. The auspicious occasion of Holi was celebrated at Dalal Street as the benchmark Nifty enjoyed yet another session of strong gains and most importantly, was seen racing to hit the magical 17,500 mark. The technical landscape has turned aggressively bullish. This optimistic backdrop should take Nifty easily to its magical goalpost at 17,500 mark and then aggressive targets at 18,000 mark”
Nishit Master, Portfolio Manager, Axis Securities
“On Wednesday, the US Fed increased rates by 25 bps and signaled another six rate hikes of 25bps each for the year. This announcement was on expected lines for the market, and thus the US and Indian markets rallied in relief. We believe that more than the rate hike trajectory indicated by the Fed, it is crucial to keep an eye on the proposed reduction in the Balance sheet by the US Fed (QT), which is expected to start from the next meeting. This tightening of liquidity can add volatility to the markets and lower PE multiples. We, thus, believe that despite the recent rally, the markets will continue to remain volatile in the near future on the back of tightening of liquidity conditions globally. One should use this volatility to increase equity allocation for the long term.”
Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel One
“Stock-specific adjustments are likely to continue and hence the pragmatic approach would be to keep focusing on thematic plays, and importantly identifying the potential movers within the same is the key. Also, the banking index plays a vital role going ahead as it’s approaching its crucial juncture of 36700 – 37000. Let’s see how this high beta index behaves in the first half of the week. Since the Russia-Ukraine war is yet to completely come to an end, it would be important to keep a regular tab of this development as well”.
