Bulls vs Bears! Here's what to expect on Dalal Street today

The benchmark indices started the week on a negative note as Sensex plummeted 1,496.54 points or 2.56 per cent to 56,842.39 dragged down by heavyweights Infosys and HDFC twins amid a weak trend in Asian markets.

However, the indices closed higher for the second consecutive session on Thursday led by gains in Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC twins amid a mixed trend in global markets. Sensex zoomed 874.18 points or 1.53 per cent to end at 57,911.68 and Nifty rallied 256.05 points or 1.49 per cent to 17,392.60.

Who will win the battle on Friday on Dalal Street? Bulls or Bears? Here's what experts say:

According to Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director, Choice Broking, the highest call OI is at 18,000 strike price followed by 17,500 strike prices while on the put side, the highest OI is at 17,000 strike price followed by 17200 strike prices.

Sharing the technical view, he added that the nifty index has confirmed the breakout of the Bullish Harami Candlestick pattern on the daily chart that suggesting a reversal move in the index. Moreover, the index has moved above 100-days Exponential Moving Averages which indicates a bullish strength for the coming day.

In addition, a momentum indicator RSI (14) & Stochastic witnessed a positive crossover, which supports the immediate trend. On an hourly chart, the nifty index also sustained above 200-HMA, which suggest a positive side move.  At present, the index is having support at 17180 levels while resistance is placed at 17600 levels. On the other hand, Bank nifty has support at 36200 levels while resistance at 37400 levels.

"Nifty 50 closes its day above good resistance zone of 17,300 and if index holds above 17,300 mark for coming trading sessions then we may see more upward move towards 17,500-17,800 mark which are another resistance zone on the upside. Crucial support for Nifty 50 is 17,000 while Nifty may face some resistance at 17,500," said Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities said, "We are of the view that the short-term texture has changed to positive, but due to overstretching intraday formation, range-bound activity is not ruled out. For the traders, the immediate hurdle on the Nifty would be 17,500-17,550. On the flip side, 17,300-17,275 would act as a crucial support zone on the Nifty for the day traders. The intraday texture is mildly overbought. Hence, buying on dips and sell on rallies would be the ideal strategy for the day traders."

"Markets had a fierce sell off during the last hour of Tuesday and since it looked a bit abnormal one, we refrained from changing our bullish stance. With today’s spectacular move, this view is clearly validated and the way we closed today around the highest point of the day, augurs well for the bulls," said Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel One Ltd.

"For the coming session, 17,450 is the immediate level to watch out for and the moment we surpass this, Nifty would continue its march towards 17,600 – 17,700. On the flipside, 17,300 followed by 17,200 are likely to provide an immediate cushion. Traders are advised to use declines to buy into and should continue to focus on thematic moves," he added.