Ahead of Market: 10 things that will decide D-Street action on Thursday

Amid a largely positive trend in global markets and continuous foreign fund inflows, benchmark equity indices extended their winning momentum to the seventh straight day on Wednesday. Buying was seen across all sectors.

The BSE Sensex ended 418 points higher and settled above the 63,000 level for the first time, while its broader peer Nifty 50 ended above the 18,750 level after touching a new peak of 18,816.

Here's how analysts read the market pulse:
“The crucial short-term moving averages are sitting below the index value, confirming the positive trend. The trend is likely to remain bullish as long as it remains above 18,600 as the support level shifts higher. On the higher end, resistance is visible at 18,800-19,000,” Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said.

“The intraday texture is mildly overbought, hence we could expect some profit booking at higher levels. For trend following traders, 18,650 would be the trend decider level, above which the index could move up to 18,900-18,950. However, traders may prefer to exit from their long positions if the index trades below 18,650 and could slip till 18,600-18,550,” Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities, said.

That said, here’s a look at what some key indicators are suggesting for Thursday's action.

US market
Wall Street was mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 down ahead of comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later in the day, while Tesla shares were among top boosts to the Nasdaq after the company's sales in China nearly doubled.

Powell's speech will be closely watched for signs of a slowdown in the pace of interest rate hikes by the central bank, as well as to assess the general health of the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 17.5% in the last two months, while the Nasdaq index has added 4.2%. At 10:08 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 156.00 points, or 0.46%, at 33,696.53, the S&P 500 was down 4.84 points, or 0.12%, at 3,952.79, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 47.46 points, or 0.43%, at 11,031.24. The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 35 new highs and 74 new lows.

European shares
European shares rose on Wednesday, joining Asian peers, although caution remained amid disappointing China factory activity data, and as investors looked to US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech for more clues on monetary policy stance.

Broad-based gains saw the pan-European STOXX 600 index rise 0.3% by 0825 GMT, on track to break a three-day losing streak. The index is up around 6.4% for November, putting it on course for its second straight month in the black. Luxury stocks were among the biggest boosts to the STOXX 600 on the day, followed by tech and energy stocks.

Tech View: Nifty forms long bull candle
With Nifty scaling new peaks, a long bullish candlestick with a minor upper shadow was formed on the daily scale. This pattern indicates the continuation of the upside momentum in the market.

The hourly and daily upper Bollinger Bands expanded along with price action, which assisted the bulls today. Momentum oscillator RSI gave a falling trend line breakout.

Stocks showing bullish bias
Momentum indicator Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed bullish trade setup on the counters of United Spirits, SRF, IRB Infrastructure Developers, Colgate-Palmolive, SBI Life and Prism Johnson, among others.

The MACD is known for signalling trend reversals in traded securities or indices. When the MACD crosses above the Signal Line, it gives a bullish signal, indicating that the price of the security may see an upward movement and vice versa.

Stocks signaling weakness ahead
The MACD showed bearish signs on the counters of Shriram Transport Finance, Hinduja Global, APL Apollo Tube, Aegis Logistics, GMM Pfaudler and Jindal Stainless, among others.

Bearish crossover on the MACD on these counters indicated that they have just begun their downward journey.

Most active stocks in value terms
RIL (Rs 3,293 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 1,981 crore), Infosys (Rs 1,935 crore), HDFC (Rs 1,475 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 1,218 crore), TCS (Rs 1,158 crore) and Bajaj Finance (Rs 996 crore) were among the most active stocks on NSE in value terms. Higher activity on a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.

Most active stocks in volume terms
Tata Steel (Shares traded: 6.1 crore), ITC (Shares traded: 2.3 crore), ICICI Bank (Shares traded: 2.1 crore), ONGC (Shares traded: 1.8 crore), SBI (Shares traded: 1.6 crore), Tata Motors (Shares traded: 1.5 crore) and Hindalco (Shares traded: 1.4 crore) were among the most traded stocks in the session on NSE.

Stocks showing buying interest
Shares of Hudco, Varun Beverages, JK Lakshmi Cement, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Cummins, Raymond and Britannia witnessed strong buying interest from market participants as they scaled their fresh 52-week highs, signaling bullish sentiment.

Stocks seeing selling pressure
Shares of Sheela Foam, Amber Enterprises and Laurus Labs witnessed strong selling pressure and hit their 52-week lows, signalling bearish sentiment on the counter.

Sentiment meter favours bulls
Overall, market breadth favoured bulls as 2,058 stocks ended in the green, while 1,438 names settled with cuts.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)