Indian benchmark equity indices came off their day's low to trade little changed through midday on Friday on the back of gains in shares of ICICI Bank Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd.
As of 11:57 a.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was trading 6.85 points, or 0.03%, higher at 21,724.80, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 50.67 points, or 0.07%, to 71,479.10.
"On the daily chart, Nifty has formed a significant bearish engulf, indicating bearish pressure," according to Mandar Bhojane, research analyst at Choice Broking Ltd.
"On the lower side, Nifty is expected to find strong support around 21,500–21,400 levels, and dips towards these levels can be considered for initiating fresh long positions," he said.
In the short term, the upside will be limited, and the range of 22,000–22,200 will continue to act as a stiff supply zone for the index, Bhojane said.
Shares of HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., ITC Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd. and State Bank of India were positively contributing to the Nifty.
Whereas, Bharti Airtel Ltd., Coal India Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Oil & Natural Gas Corp. and NTPC Ltd. were weighing on the index.
Most sectoral indices fell with Nifty Media, Nifty Metal, and Nifty Oil and Gas falling more than 2%. Nifty Bank, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Financial Services, and Nifty Pharma rose.
The broader markets underperformed their larger peers, with the BSE MidCap falling 1.58% and the BSE SmallCap declining 1.78% through midday on Friday.
Three of the 20 sectors compiled by the BSE advanced, while 17 declined.
The market breadth was skewed in the favour of the sellers. As many as 989 stocks advanced, 2,767 declined and 111 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
