Ahead of the market: 10 things that will determine stock market action on Friday

Despite a late late recovery, Indian benchmark indices fell sharply on Thursday after a sell-off in Adani Group shares after a US court convicted Chairman Gautam Adani and several others in a $250 million bribery case. While the S&P BSE Sensex closed down 422.59 points or 0.54% at 77,155.79, the broader Nifty50 closed down 168.60 points or 0.72% at 23,349.90.

Here’s how analysts read the pulse of the market:
Commenting on the day’s action, analyst Jatin Gedia, technical research analyst at Sharekhan said, “The daily chart suggests that the Nifty has seen follow-through selling pressure from the previous trading session. “It broke the low of 23350 and is now moving towards 23180. The 20-day moving average above 23500 will act as an immediate barrier zone from a short-term perspective,” Gedia said.

US markets
Wall Street’s main indexes traded mixed on Thursday amid Alphabet’s decline and Nvidia’s strong results. Alphabet fell 4% as the Justice Department urged a judge to order the sale of Chrome to end Google’s search monopoly, dragging the communications services sector down 2.2%.

Megacaps like Meta, Amazon and Apple fell 1.1%, 1.1% and 0.6% respectively. Meanwhile, Nvidia rose 1.3% to a record high, beating quarterly expectations and projecting fourth-quarter revenue above estimates, reinforcing its position as a major AI heavyweight.

European stocks

European shares rose 0.5% on Thursday with the STOXX 600 snapping a four-day losing streak. Energy stocks rose 1.3% on heightened Ukraine-Russia tensions, including reports of a missile strike over Dnipro. Defense stocks rose 1.5%, while safe-haven assets such as gold, the Swiss franc and the US dollar rose. Insurers gained 1.6%, led by a 3.1% increase in Zurich Insurance on strong three-year targets and a 6.8% jump in Poland’s PZU after solid Q3 results.

Tech View
Nifty broke its immediate support at 23,350 level and made a low of 23263, indicating continued weakness, said Praveen Dwarkanath of Hedged.in, adding that momentum indicators on the weekly chart continue to show weakness in the index. “The index has recovered nearly 100 points from its intraday low, which could signal another dead cat bounce. Any bounce becomes an opportunity to sell the index. Options writer data for the monthly close showed an increase in puts at 23,300 levels, however, 23,500 put writers have not yet covered their positions, which also suggests a possible minor bounce in the index.” Dwarkanath said.

Most active stocks in terms of turnover
Adani Enterprises (Rs. 237.21 crore), Adani Power (Rs. 228.88 crore), Suzlon (Rs. 190.81 crore), Adani Ports (Rs. 149.76 crore), Adani Energy Solutions (Rs. 97.97 crore), Tata Motors (Rs. 81.79 crore), Ambuja (Rs. 68.30 crore). crore) and Adani Gas (Rs 64.24 crore) was one of the most active stocks on the BSE in terms of total value. High activity in a counter in terms of value can help identify counters with the highest trading turnover in a day.

Most active stocks in terms of volume
Vodafone Idea (traded shares: 7.20 crore), Shrestha Finvest (traded shares: 4.42 crore), GTL Infra (traded shares: 1.09 crore), Yes Bank (traded shares: 80.41 lakh), SpiceJet (traded shares: 59.49 lakh), Adani Power (traded shares: 49.49 lakhs) and PNB (Traded shares: 42.35 crore) was one of the most actively traded stocks in terms of volume on the BSE.

Stocks show interest in buying
Shares of Power Grid Corporation, Ultratech Cement, Vijaya Diagnostic, VIP Industries, Ratnamani Metals & Tubes, NLC India, CRISIL and Amber Enterprises witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.

52 week high
Over 276 stocks touched their 52-week highs today while 27 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Aarti Surfactants, Anant Raj, Arvind Fashions, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Bikaji Foods International, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, Concord Biotech, EPACK Durable, Hero Motocorp, Includes ICICI Bank, Indian Energy Exchange. (IEX) and Inox Wind

Selling pressure is seen in stocks
Large cap names include Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, SBI Life Insurance Company, SBI and NTPC. Adani Energy Solutions, Ambuja Cements, Adani Total Gas and Honasa Consumer (MamaEarth) saw significant selling pressure.

The sentiment meter favors the bears
While moves in heavyweights like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Power Grid helped markets salvage some dignity, the overall breadth was tilted in favor of the bears. Out of 4,065 stocks traded on BSE on Thursday, 2,809 stocks declined, 1,171 stocks gained while 85 stocks remained unchanged.

Also Read: Amid Sell-off LIC’s Adani Portfolio Up Rs. 8,683 crore decrease

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