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

Tuesday’s pullback rally proved to be short-lived as the Nifty cracked 225.5 points to end near the 15,400 mark. Among sectors, Metals, Realty, Power and Oil & Gas indices fell the most. The rupee declined by 27 paise to a record low of 78.40 against the US dollar.

Here's how analysts read the market pulse:

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said the market showing immediate reversal of upside bounce is not a good sign for the bulls to sustain the highs. "Now, one may expect Nifty to slide down to the important support area of 15,200 levels in the next few sessions. Immediate resistance is placed at 15,560," he said.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said the market has fallen sharply to below normal volumes, suggesting a lack of adequate buying to offset the selling pressure. "Now Nifty has support at 15,293-15,350 band while on up moves, it could face resistance from 15,565 and later 15,670," he said.

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

US stocks retreat
Wall Street stocks fell early Wednesday, giving back some of the prior session's gains as markets awaited testimony from the Federal Reserve chief on inflation and monetary policy.

In prepared testimony, Fed Chief Jerome Powell said that further inflation "surprises" could come after the wave of unexpected price increases over the last year. About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.8 percent at 30,287.75.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.6 percent to 3,740.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.5 percent to 11,019.80.

European shares extend gains
European equities rose for a third straight session on Tuesday, lifted by chemical and resource-linked sectors, as last week's brutal selloff on recession fears attracted bargain hunters.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index advanced 0.4%, after hitting a more than one-year low last week.

Tech View: Bearish candle
Nifty50 ended up forming a bearish candle on the daily chart. The index failed to see a follow-through buying, following the breach of the 15,200-15,400 range in the previous session, reflecting a lack of strength.

Stocks showing bullish bias
Momentum indicator Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed a bullish trade setup on the counters of Suprajit Engineering, Max Healthcare, Godrej Consumer, Ramco Cements, Jyothy Labs and CCL Products.

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 signalling weakness ahead
The MACD showed bearish signs on the counters of Varun Beverages, Emami, DCM Shriram, Westlife Dev and Cera Sanitary. A bearish crossover on the MACD on these counters indicated that they had just begun their downward journey.

Most active stocks in value terms
Reliance Industries (Rs 1,237 crore), TCS (Rs 1,074 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 933 crore), Infosys (Rs 904 crore), HDFC (Rs 640 crore), and HDFC (Rs 622 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 the highest trading turnovers in the day.

Most active stocks in volume terms
ONGC (Shares traded: 3.2 crore), Hindalco (Shares traded: 1.9 crore), Tata Motors (Shares traded: 1.2 crore), ITC (Shares traded: 1.1 crore), SBI (Shares traded: 1.1 crore) and Tata Steel (Shares traded: 1.1 crore) were among the most traded stocks in the session on NSE.

Stocks showing buying interest
Shares of Kohinoor Foods, Akshar Spintex Limited, Axita Cotton Limited, Dangee Dums Limited and Elecon Engineering Company Limited witnessed strong buying interest from market participants as they scaled their fresh 52-week highs, signaling bullish sentiment.

Stocks seeing selling pressure
UPL, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank witnessed strong selling pressure and hit their 52-week lows, signaling bearish sentiment on the counters.

Sentiment meter favours bears
Overall, market breadth favoured losers as 1,184 stocks ended in the green, while 2,147 names settled with cuts.