Trade Setup For Feb. 21: Nifty 50 Faces Resistance At 23,150 Levels

The NSE Nifty 50, which ended marginally lower on Thursday, faces immedite resistance at 23,150 levels, according to Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities Ltd.

On the lower end, the support for Nifty 50 is placed at 22,800 levels, he said. "A decisive breakout on either side might trigger a directional move in the market."

As per Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities Ltd., the 22,950 level will act as a "crucial mark" and if the index moves above this, then it could rally to the 23,050-23,100 range.

On the flip side, if Nifty 50 slips below the crucial support of 22,800, then it could potentially retest the lower levels of 22,725-22,650, he said. "Given the current market texture is non-directional, level-based trading would be the ideal strategy for day traders."

Bank Nifty, which is also a keenly tracked index, is still below the "49,650 hurdle", pointed out Hrishikesh Yedve, assistant vice president for technical and derivatives research at Asit C. Mehta Investment Interrmediates Ltd. A move above this can take the index towards 50,000 levels, he said.

“On the downside, 48,800 will act as immediate support for the index. Traders should closely monitor these levels for potential trading opportunities,” he added.

India's benchmark equity market indices posted a third consecutive session of losses on Thursday, as financial heavyweights HDFC Bank Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. underperformed.

The Nifty 50 ended 19.75 points or 0.09% lower at 22,913.15, while the BSE Sensex closed 203.22 points or 0.27% down at 75,735.96.

• Nifty February futures declined by 0.13% to 22,942, with a premium of 29 points.

• The open interest for Nifty February futures decreased by 1.61%.

• For the Nifty Options set to expire on Feb. 27, the maximum call open interest is at 26,500, while the maximum put open interest is at 22,000.

Foreign portfolio investors stayed net sellers of Indian equities for the second straight day on Thursday as they offloaded stocks worth approximately Rs 3,311.6 crore.

Domestic institutional investors stayed net buyers for the 12th straight session as they bought equities worth Rs 3,907.6 crore, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

• Mahindra and Mahindra: The company's board approved M&M Financial to raise up to Rs 3,000 crore via rights issue. Additionally, Mahindra Lifespace Developers will raise up to Rs 1,500 crore through rights issue.

• Religare Enterprises: The Burman Group has acquired control of the company, following a prolonged tussle that involved the financial services firm's ousted Chairperson Rashmi Saluja and the US-based investor Danny Gaekwad.

• Vedanta: Vedanta Group is inviting bids from global firms to construct five gigawatts of nuclear power capacity in India. The mining conglomerate plans to use this capacity to meet the energy needs of its facilities, as reported by Bloomberg.

Stocks in the Asia Pacific region slipped in early trade on Friday, taking overnight cues from a fall on Wall Street, following disappointing earnings outlook from Walmart.

Japan's Nikkei was down 113 points, or 0.3% at 38,562, while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.31%, or 8 points to 2,645 as of 6:35 a.m. Future contracts in China hinted at a negative start, while those in Hong Kong were poised to open higher.

Asian stocks have gained 2.5% this month, outperforming a gauge of global peers, mainly driven by sentiment over China's DeepSeek, according to Bloomberg. Hang Seng and China's benchmark were the top gainers this month with over 10% rally.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Yen fell past the key level of 150, the strongest since December, hoping the central bank will hike interest rates as inflation rose more than expected. The dollar index — which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of 10 leading global currencies — was 0.09% up at 106.47.

Wall Street fell from its record highs on Thursday as the world's largest retailer's earnings outlook spoiled the sentiment. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.43% and 1.01%, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.47%.

Crude oil prices are on track for their biggest weekly gain since early January. The Brent crude was up 0.29% at $76.70 a barrel as of 7:45 a.m. IST, and the West Texas Intermediate was up 0.44% at $72.57.

The Indian rupee ended stronger against the US dollar on Thursday. The local currency strengthened by 29 paise to open at 86.85 against the greenback, according to Bloomberg. It closed at 86.95 on Wednesday.