Taking Stock | Market snaps 2-day losing streak; Sensex up 257 points, Nifty above 17,550

The Indian market snapped a two-day losing streak and ended on a positive note on August 23 amid high volatility, helped by gains in auto, bank, metal and oil & gas stocks.

Amid weak global cues, the domestic market started on a negative note and gyrated between gains and losses before closing near the day's high.

The Sensex ended 257.43 points, or 0.44 percent, higher 59,031.30, and the Nifty was up 86.80 points, or 0.50 percent, at 17,577.50.

"The fear of uncertainty is visible in the market as they move with high volatility, led by weak signals from global peers, while a stronger domestic economy is providing some comfort," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Global markets were under pressure following a spike in European energy prices and rate hike fears ahead of the Jackson Hole gathering later in the week where Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s take on interest rate hikes will be closely tracked.

"On the domestic front, gains in banks, autos and metals were countered by selling in IT stocks as majors are scaling down variable pay due to margin pressure," he added.

M&M, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Titan Company and Tata Steel were among the major Nifty gainers.

The losers included Infosys, TCS, Divis Labs, HUL and HCL Technologies.

Among sectors, Nifty Bank, auto, metal, and PSU Bank rose 1-2 percent. On the other hand, the information technology index shed nearly 2 percent.

Stocks and sectors

On the BSE, oil & gas, auto, bank, and metal indices added 1-2, while IT index was down 1.6 percent.

BSE midcap and smallcap indices added 0.8-1 percent.

A short build-up was seen in Mphasis, Infosys and Persistent Systems, while a long build-up was witnessed in RBL, NNDC and IDFC First Bank.

Among individual stocks, a more than 100 percent volume spike was seen in Delta Corp, Balrampur Chini and Atul.

More than 100 stocks touched their 52-week highs on the BSE. These included Pricol, New Delhi Television, Hubtown, Bharat Electronics, Deepak Fertilisers and Adani Transmission.

Outlook for August 24

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities

Markets witnessed heightened volatility as the Sensex gyrated more than 1,000 points during the session before late buying in banking, auto, metal & realty stocks aided recovery.

The market may witness bouts of volatility in the coming days as global factors will continue to keep investors on tenterhooks.

Technically, after a gap-down opening, the Nifty took support near the 20-day simple moving average (SMA) and bounced back sharply.

It also formed a bullish candle on daily charts which is broadly positive. However, the short -erm formation is still on the negative side.

The intraday set-up suggests that the pullback rally is likely to continue if the index trades above 17,500. Above the same, it could hit the level of 17,700-17,750. On the flip side, below 17,500 a fresh round of selling is possible and below it, the index can slip to 17,350-17,300.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities

The Nifty ended the day with a significant green candle that pierced through the body of the previous bear candle on the daily chart. On the lower end, the Nifty found support at a near-term moving average.

The trend will remain positive as long as the index holds above 1,7400 on a sustained basis. On the higher end, 17,700 may act as immediate resistance. A decisive move above 17,700 may induce a rally towards the recent high of 18,000.