Meanwhile, the volatility gauge India VIX ended at 12.17, down 0.7% from the last closing.
Here’s how analysts read the market pulse:
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said the Nifty closed in the red for the third straight session and remained below its 50-day moving average, pointing to near-term pressure. However, the index has held above its 20-day exponential moving average over the past three sessions, indicating that the immediate trading range could stay narrow.He added that the daily RSI remains in positive territory. According to De, the 25,480–25,500 band continues to be a key support zone, while any rebound towards 25,875 may attract selling. Overall, he expects the index to stay range-bound in the near term, with selective stock-specific outperformance.
US markets
The S&P 500 slid to near two-week lows and the Nasdaq sank to its lowest level in more than two months on Thursday, as the AI theme came under renewed pressure after Alphabet’s spending plans and Qualcomm’s downbeat forecast rattled investors.
The Dow Jones fell 605.04 points (-1.22%) to 48,896.26, the S&P 500 slid 90.71 points (-1.32%) to 6,792.02, and the Nasdaq dropped 384.59 points (-1.68%) to 22,519.99.
Shares of the Google parent fell as much as 7.81% after Alphabet said it would double its capital expenditure this year, signaling another aggressive push to strengthen its position in the AI race.
European Markets
European markets were a sea of red around 1:46 p.m. GMT (7:31 pm India time) with UK’s FTSE 100 lower (0.54%) while Stoxx 600, French CAC 40, Germany’s DAX and Spain’s IBEX down up to 1.60%.
Tech View
Nifty has entered a consolidation phase with prices moving within a defined range after a sharp two-sessions jump, Rajesh Bhosale, Technical Analyst at Angel One said, adding that the index continues to trade above all key moving averages, while the RSI remains in positive territory above the 50 mark, indicating that the broader trend remains positive.
“The current phase appears to be a healthy cooldown after the sharp gap-up of Tuesday (1200 points), and the next momentum trigger is likely post the RBI policy announcement. Until then, the primary trend remains intact and any dip should be viewed as a buying opportunity, provided key supports hold,” he said.
Bhosale said that Nifty is holding above the crucial support zone of 25,500 and below this level a strong support is placed around the 25,250 mark, which coincides with the 200DEMA, the bullish gap left and the 61.8% retracement of the entire upward move from the Budget day low. On the upside, 25,750–25,850 remains an immediate resistance zone, followed by the psychological 26,000 mark.
Most active stocks in terms of turnover
PB Fintech (Policybazaar, Rs 518 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 383 crore), Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 298 crore), RIL (Rs 225 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 182 crore), Hindustan Copper (Rs 166 crore) and HAL (Rs 162 crore), were among the most active stocks on BSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.
Most active stocks in volume terms
Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 4.61 crore), Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 4.31 lakh), RPower (Traded shares: 85.49 crore), JP Power (Traded shares: 81.28 lakh), PC Jeweller (Traded shares: 77.56 lakh), Kotak Mahindra Bank (Traded shares: 73.46) and IFCI (Traded shares: 63.36 lakh) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on BSE.
Stocks showing buying interest
Nykaa, Policybazaar, Devyani International, Aditya Birla Real Estate, Sapphire Foods, Inventurus Knowledge, Force Motors and Birlasoft.
were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.
52 Week high
Today, 75 stocks hit their 52 week highs while 92 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Among the ones which hit their 52 week highs included Adani Ports, APL Apollo Tubes, Bharat Forge, Force Motors, IOC, Jindal Steel, Prime Focus and SMT Engineering.
Stocks seeing selling pressure
Among the large cap names were Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and RIL. Other stocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were Hexaware Technologies, JP Power, IDBI Bank, Redington, Valor Estate, MCX and Vedanta.
Sentiment meter favours bears
Action in heavyweights like Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and RIL dragged the markets the most. The breadth stayed negative in broader markets. Out of the 4,342 stocks that traded on the BSE on February 5, Thursday, 1,690 stocks witnessed advances, 2,504 saw declines while 148 stocks remained unchanged.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)