The Indian stock market closed in the red on Friday, with Sensex and Nifty recording slight losses even as oil prices stabilised around $87 per barrel.
Sensex fell around 71 points to close at 78,009, while Nifty 50 lost 30 points to end the session at 24,366. Broader markets slipped into the deep red, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 indices falling around 0.7% each.
Asian Paints shares dropped around 2% to lead losses on the Sensex, while IndiGo, NTPC, Power Grid, SBI and HCLTech shares fell more than 1% each. Bucking the trend, Bharti Airtel shares jumped over 2.5% while Adani Ports shares gained around 2%.
Among sectors, Nifty Auto, Nifty Metal, Nifty Pharma and a few other indices fell around 1% each. Nifty Consumer Durables meanwhile gained nearly 1%. The overall market breadth was negative, with the NSE seeing 1,855 declines and 1,479 advances, while 127 remained unchanged.
What lies ahead for Dalal Street?
A sideways trend persisted in the market as investors awaited greater clarity on the outlook for energy prices and global bond yields, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments. He noted that the market, however, witnessed a recovery from the day's lows, led by consumer durables and discretionary consumption stocks, supported by improving demand trends.
"Better-than-expected corporate earnings during the quarter, along with supportive domestic factors that could drive upward revisions to FY27 earnings estimates, continue to create opportunities for a bottom-up stock selection approach. Additionally, the stability in the rupee, moderation in India's 10-year bond yield, and a gradual improvement in FII participation are providing support to the domestic macro-environment and supporting the inflation trajectory," the analyst further said.
Going ahead, the immediate resistance for Nifty is placed in the 24,500-24,550 zone, according to SBI Securities. Any sustainable move above this zone could result in Nifty extending its pullback towards 24,700, followed by 24,850 in the short term, it added.
On the downside, the immediate support for Nifty is placed in the 24,230-24,200 zone, which coincides with the 100-day EMA, according to the domestic brokerage.
