The Nifty 50 is expected to trade in a range on Friday, with key resistance at 23,400, according to analysts. Support for the index is seen at 22,980.
"The domestic benchmark index, Nifty, opened flat to negative, witnessed buying interest, and ultimately settled the day in positive territory at 23,205," said Hrishikesh Yedve, AVP Technical and Derivatives Research at Asit C. Mehta Investment Intermediates Ltd.
"Technically, Nifty has respected the hammer's support of 22,980 levels and formed a green candle, indicating strength. As long as the index holds above 22,980, the ongoing relief rally is likely to continue, with the index potentially attempting to test 23,400-23,550. Therefore, traders are advised to follow a 'buy on dips' strategy in the short term."
Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares, said, "As noted yesterday, the positive divergence in the RSI worked well, but for a trend reversal to be confirmed, the index needs to break through the strong resistance level at 23,400. Meanwhile, 23,000 will continue to act as support."
Key events to watch include the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision and the release of quarterly results from several companies, including JSW Steel Ltd., Interglobe Aviation Ltd., and Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.
Siddhartha Khemka, head of research for wealth management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd., highlighted that cement stocks are likely to remain in focus following strong results from Ultratech Cement.
FII/DII Activity
The Nifty January futures were up by 0.29% to 23,267 at a premium of 61.65 points, with the open interest down by 3.18%.
The open interest distribution for the Nifty 50 Jan. 30 expiry series indicated most activity at 24,000 call strikes, with the 22,000 put strikes having maximum open interest.
Market Recap
On Thursday, the Indian benchmark indices extended their gains into a second day, led by UltraTech Cement Ltd. and information-technology firms, which rose on solid earnings and excitement around Donald Trump's AI policies.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed 115 points, or 0.15% higher, at 76,520.38, while the NSE Nifty 50 rose 50 points, or 0.22%, to 23,205.35. Intraday, the Nifty jumped 0.5% to 23,270.80, while the S&P BSE Sensex increased 0.44% to 76,743.54.
Coforge Ltd. and Persistent Systems Ltd. saw their shares rise 11% and 12%, respectively, on positive third-quarter results. Trump's ambition to make the United States an AI superpower by removing regulatory barriers continued to boost tech enthusiasm.
Major Stocks In News
Dr Reddy's Laboratories: The pharmaceutical company’s profit rose 2% year-on-year in the December quarter to Rs 1,413.7 crore but missed analysts' estimates of Rs 1,507 crore, according to Bloomberg.
Hindustan Petroleum Corp.: The oil marketing company’s standalone net profit jumped nearly 380% sequentially to Rs 3,023 crore for the third quarter, while revenue rose 10.1% to Rs 1.10 lakh crore. The results were in line with analysts' expectations.
Kotak Mahindra Bank: The lender completed the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank India’s personal loan portfolio worth Rs 3,330 crore, strengthening its position in the retail credit market.
Infosys: The IT giant’s board approved the merger of its subsidiaries—In-tech Holding GmbH and Friedrich & Wagner Asia Pacific GmbH—with In-tech GmbH. All entities are wholly owned step-down subsidiaries of the company.
Indus Towers: The telecom infrastructure provider plans to foray into the electric vehicle charging infrastructure sector. It has launched pilot EV charging stations in Gurugram and Bengaluru and received board approval to explore more opportunities in this space.
Global Cues
Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region advanced on Friday tracking an overnight rally on Wall Street that pushed stocks to record highs. All eyes will be on the Bank of Japan, which is widely expected to raise interest rates today.
Japan's Nikkei was 207 points, or 0.52%, higher at 40,165, while Australia's S&P ASX 200 was up 26 points, or 0.31%, at 8,404, as of 6:38 a.m. Futures contracts in China and Hong Kong pointed to gains.
Bank of Japan will deliver its interest rate decisions on Friday and is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate by the most in 18 years, according to Bloomberg. A 25 basis point increase would be the largest since February 2007.
Meanwhile, stocks in China will continue to be in focus after authorities rolled out a slew of measures to stabilize the stock market on Wednesday. The benchmark CSI 300 closed with gains of 0.18% in the previous session.
On the commodities front, crude oil prices fell after US President Donald Trump urged OPEC to lower crude prices while pushing for interest-rate cuts. Trump said he would ask Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations to “bring down the cost of oil."
The Brent crude was trading 0.63% lower at $77.80 a barrel as of 6:50 a.m. IST, and the West Texas Intermediate was down 0.56% at $74.20.
Stocks on Wall Street surged to new highs driven by a late-day rebound in technology companies. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53% and 0.92%, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.22%.
The largest cryptocurrency traded above the $103,000 mark. The dollar index — which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of 10 leading global currencies — was down 0.11% at 108.04.
Money Market
The Indian rupee closed weaker versus the US dollar on Thursday, following a one-day rally, as the dollar index and crude oil prices both rose.
The native currency fell 14 paise to close at 86.47 against the US dollar, according to Bloomberg. It closed at 86.33 on Wednesday.
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