Bulls vs Bears: Here's what to expect on Dalal Street today

Benchmark indices ended lower on Thursday as a fag-end sell-off erased early gains, with IT and banking stocks falling amid monthly derivatives expiry. After remaining in the positive territory for most part of the trade, Sensex suddenly came under selling pressure during the last half-hour of the session. It closed 310.71 points lower at 58,774.72. During the day, it hit a high of 59,484.35 and a low of 58,666.41.

Nifty dropped 82.50 points or 0.47 per cent to end at 17,522.45.

Banking and IT shares were the top sectoral losers with their BSE indices falling 120 points and 258 points, respectively.

Market breadth was positive with 1,905 stocks ending higher against 517 stocks falling on BSE. 130 shares were unchanged.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 275.84 lakh crore in the previous session.

Here's a look at what analysts said about the direction the market is likely to take today.  

Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities

"Technically speaking, the Nifty line on the sand is at the 17345 mark. Aggressive buyers are advised to take a backseat if Nifty slips below its biggest support at 17345. In case of Nifty's major support at 17345 collapses, the next big support is seen only at 17161 mark.”

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities

"The sharp intraday weakness of Thursday could be a worrying factor for the bulls to sustain the highs. As long as Nifty sustains above the supports of 17300-17200 levels, there is a possibility of an upside bounce from the lower levels. One may expect broader range movement for the Nifty around 17700-17800 on the upside and 17300-17200 levels on the downside for the near term."

Palak Kothari, Senior Technical Analyst, Choice Broking

"The support for Nifty has shifted around 17,300 levels while on the upside 17,750 may act as an immediate hurdle. On the other hand, Bank Nifty has support at 38,500 levels while resistance at 39,500 levels. Overall, sector specific momentum can be seen as the PSU Bank and realty stocks are looking good for the upcoming session."

Also read: Sensex, Nifty end lower on fag-end sell-off; banking, IT shares top losers

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