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

Benchmark indices ended lower for the second straight session on Wednesday in choppy trade. High crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows also led to weak sentiment on Dalal Street. Sensex fell 185.24 points to close at 55,381.17. During the day, it dived 474.98 points or 0.85 per cent to 55,091.43 after an initial rally.

Nifty dipped 61.80 points or 0.37 per cent to end at 16,522.75.

Nestle India, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma, Hindustan Unilever, PowerGrid, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Infosys and Bajaj Finance were among the top Sensex losers, falling up to 3 per cent.

M&M, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and Tata Steel were among the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 1.32 per cent. Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs   257.02 lakh crore on Wednesday against Rs 257.79 lakh crore market cap in the previous session.

Market breadth was positive with 1844 shares ending higher against 1487 stocks falling on BSE. 131 shares were unchanged.

Here's a look at what experts said about the direction the market is likely to take today.

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said, "The near-term uptrend status remains intact for Nifty on the daily chart and the smaller degree of higher tops and bottoms is also active. After the upside breakout of hurdle at 16400 levels on Monday, Nifty showing minor weakness down to the previous upside breakout area (16400 levels) could be considered as an important support for the market. Other supports like daily 10 and 20 period EMA are also placed around 16400 levels. The near-term uptrend of Nifty remains intact and present consolidation or minor weakness could be considered as a buy on dips opportunity for the short term. The market could shift in to another 1 or 2 sessions of range move or minor weakness, before showing a sharp upside bounce from the lows. The near-term upside target remains intact at 16,800 levels."

Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities said, "On the technical front, the key resistance levels for Nifty50 are 16,700 and on the downside 16,350 can act as strong support. Key resistance and support levels for Bank Nifty are 36,200 and 35,000 respectively."

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said, "Nifty remained choppy for the day as the benchmark index ended without a directional move. On the higher end, 50EMA has been acting as a crucial resistance. However, the Nifty slipped not very far from the previous close. The trend remains sideward for the near term. Support is visible at 16400, whereas on the higher end, resistance is likely to remain intact at 16700."