Stock market today: Gift Nifty down 4 pts; key levels for Nifty, Sensex & Nifty Bank

Indian benchmark indices are likely to open on a muted note on Thursday awaiting directional cues amid delays over India-US trade deals. Traders' focus shall shift on the result season kicking-off today. Nvidia's historic mcap level may provide some boost to the market but overall sentiments continue to remain mixed.

Nifty futures on the NSE International Exchange traded 4.30 points, or 0.02 per cent, lower at 25,554.50, hinting at a muted start for the domestic market on Thursday. Asian stocks rose slightly on Thursday. KOSPI jumped more than a per cent, while Hang Seng was trading higher. Japan's Nikkei gave up early gains and fell half a per cent.

Indian markets remain in a wait and watch mode, tracking the conclusion of the India-US mini trade deal, which is likely to determine the near-term market direction, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Wall Street indices closed higher on Wednesday, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq as Nvidia briefly reached a $4 trillion valuation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 217.54 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 44,458.30, the S&P 500 gained 37.74 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 6,263.26 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 192.87 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 20,611.34.

In the commodities, oil prices fell on Thursday, with Brent crude futures down 0.16 per cent to $70.08 per barrel, while US crude lost 0.22 per cent to $68.23 a barrel. Spot gold rose 0.3 per cent to $3,322.69 an ounce, , helped by a slight retreat in the dollar and bond yields.

The dollar was on the back foot on Thursday, slipping from a two-week high versus major peers. The dollar index eased 0.1 per cent to 97.286. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin hovered near a record high and was last at $111,234.63, while ether was up 1.3 per cent to $2,775.54.

While the tariff-related concerns linger, the focus now shifts to the earnings season, with IT major, TCS, scheduled to announce its results on Thursday, said Ajit Mishra, SVP of Research at Religare Broking.  "The weekly expiry could add to the choppiness. Amid all this, we maintain our bullish stance and recommend continuing with a 'buy on dips' strategy," he said.

Provisional data available with NSE suggest that FPIs turned net buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 77 crore on Wednesday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned buyers of Indian equities to the tune of Rs 920.83 crore on a net-net basis.

Nifty & Sensex outlook

Nifty formed a small bearish  candle on the daily charts and non-directional activity on intraday charts indicate indecisiveness between the bulls and the bears, said Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities. The current market texture is non-directional; perhaps traders are waiting for either side to break out, he said.

"For the bulls, the breakout zones for day traders are 25,550/83,800. Above these levels, the market could rally to 25,650-25,725/ 84,000-84,400. On the flip side, a dismissal of 25,400/83,350 could accelerate selling pressure. The market may retest the levels of 25,300/83,000 below this level. Downside could continue, potentially dragging the market to 25,200-25,175 / 83,000-82,900," Chauhan added.

Nandish Shah, Deputy Vice President at HDFC Securities said that Nifty managed to protect its level above the previous session’s low, which indicates an ongoing consolidation within its primary uptrend. "Support and resistance for the Nifty continue to be at 25,331 and 25,670 respectively. A decisive breakout from this range would give a directional view in the index," he said.
 

Nifty Bank outlook

Nifty Bank maintained the overall undertone strong and can expect for further rise once a decisive breach above the resistance level of 57,600 is confirmed, thereafter, expecting for fresh targets of 58,500 and 60,000 levels in the coming days, said Vaishali Parekh, Vice President of Technical Research at PL Capital. "It continues to have the 56,000 zone as the crucial support," she said.

Nifty Bank formed a doji candlestick pattern which remained enclosed inside previous session price range signaling consolidation with positive bias for the fourth session in a row. We expect the index to extend consolidation in the range 56,500-57,600 in the coming sessions, said Bajaj Broking. "The broader trend remains positive and any dips should be viewed as buying opportunities."