Sensex, Nifty open marginally lower in volatile trade; JSW Steel down 1.5%

Benchmark stock market indices opened marginally lower on Wednesday despite improvement in global cues. This was largely due to prevailing volatility in the domestic markets.

The S&P BSE Sensex was trading 55.88 points lower at 63,819.05 at around 9:44 am, while the NSE Nifty 50 was down nearly 3 points to 19,076. All the broader market indices were trading in positive territory.

Heavyweight sectoral indices Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services fell in early trade, but gains in Nifty IT, Nifty Realty and Nifty Oil & Gas provided support to the benchmark indices.

The top five gainers on the Nifty 50 were BPCL, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, ONGC and Wipro. On the other hand, the top five losers were JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and Asian Paints.

Domestic markets remain volatile as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues, while market observers are also keenly eying the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting. There are high expectations that the Fed will hold rates in view of recent US economic data.

Aditya Gaggar, Director of Progressive Shares, said, “We feel that the Nifty Index is likely to oscillate in the range of 18,800-19,200/19,250. The Auto sector is consolidating in a box and at present stands close to its lower end of the range, a reversal can be expected. We continued to stay bullish on the realty space while our stance on the metal segment remained negative.”

Meanwhile, Mandar Bhojane of Choice Broking, said the Nifty could encounter selling pressure today, and that it is facing resistance “in the range of 19,200-19,250, while immediate support levels are observed at 19,000 and 19,900”.

“Further analysis of the market reveals that the Relative Strength Index (RSI) momentum indicator is currently indicating weakness, hovering around the 37 level. Additionally, the index is trading below all short-term and mid-term exponential moving averages (EMA) of 20, 50, and 100 on the daily chart. The price is finding support at the 200 EMA, which is at the 18,835 level, and it is expected to act as a support level,” he added.