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

Mirroring positive sentiment globally ahead of the crucial Fed rate decision on the interest rate later today, Indian equities ended in the green. Nifty topped 17,150 levels, while Sensex settled at 58,214 levels. HDFC Life, Bajaj twins, Sun Pharma and Tata Consumer Products were the notable gainers from the Nifty pack, while losers included BPCL, NTPC and Coal India, among others.

Here's how analysts read the market pulse:

“Staying afloat in a volatile trade, the domestic market managed to remain positive, with the optimism that the global banking system issue is behind us. Additionally, the volatility brought in from western markets ahead of the announcement of Fed policy and release of high UK inflation tested market sentiments. The market has factored in a 25 bps rate hike by the Fed, and an in-line and less hawkish policy stance will attract bulls,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

“The index remains in a buy-on-dip mode as long as the index stays above 17,000. The immediate hurdle on the upside is at 17,200, where the highest open interest is built up on the call side. The index once surpassed the resistance will witness a sharp move on the upside toward the 17,500 level,” Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities, said.

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

Wall Street holds steady
Stocks are holding steady Wednesday as Wall Street bides its time until the Federal Reserve’s announcement in the afternoon about whether it will tighten the screws further on the economy.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading. It’s coming off its first back-to-back gain in two weeks, before the second- and third-largest U.S. bank failures in history threw the industry into turmoil. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually flat at 32,561 points, as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was also basically unchanged.

European stocks cautiously higher
European markets were cautiously higher on Wednesday after UK inflation unexpectedly accelerated and investors awaited the US Federal Reserve’s latest decision on interest rates. After a choppy start, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.5% at around late afternoon trade.

Tech View: Small negative candle
A small negative candle formed on the daily chart with upper and lower shadow. Technically, this market action indicates a formation of high wave type candle pattern. Normally, such patterns after a reasonable up move signal reversal of the upside, post confirmation.

Stocks showing bullish bias
Momentum indicator Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed bullish trade on the counters of BOB, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, Aditya Birla Capital and J&K Bank, among others.

The MACD is known for signaling 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 Steel Authority of India, Power Grid Corporation of India, Ksolves India, Godfrey Phillips and Chennai Petroleum, among others. A bearish crossover on the MACD on these counters indicated that they had just begun their downward journey.

Most active stocks in value terms
ICICI Bank (Rs 1493 crore), Infosys (Rs 1161 crore), RIL (Rs 1149 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 1115 crore) and Paytm (Rs 798 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
Vodafone Idea (Shares traded: 17.05 crore), YES Bank (Shares traded: 13.96 crore), Zomato (Shares traded: 3.84 crore), GAIL (Shares traded: 3.61 crore) and Trident (Shares traded: 3.13 crore) were among the most traded stocks in the session on NSE.

Stocks showing buying interest
Shares of Ion Exchange, KPIT Technologies and Siemens witnessed strong buying interest from market participants as they scaled their fresh 52-week highs, signalling bullish sentiment.

Stocks seeing selling pressure
Shares of Sobha, Caplin Point, GR Infraprojects, Nippon Life AMC, Trident and Cipla, among others, hit their 52-week lows, signalling bearish sentiment on the counters.

Sentiment meter favours bulls
Overall, market breadth favoured bulls as 1,984 stocks ended in the green, while 1,523 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)