Week Ahead....

The benchmark indices as well as broader markets recorded fresh all-time closing highs in the week ended August 30, with the Nifty 50 finishing the week above the psychological 25,000 mark for the first time, backed majorly by IT stocks on hope of fed funds rate cut expectations from the September policy meeting, and renewed FIIs' buying interest.

During the last week, the BSE Sensex rallied 1.58 percent or 1,280 points to 82,366, and the Nifty 50 climbed 1.66 percent or 413 points to 25,236, while the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices gained 1.25 percent, and 1.19 percent, respectively.

The activity at the FIIs and DIIs' desks is another factor to watch in the coming week. Finally, foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the equity cash segment (as per provisional data) after being sellers in the previous several weeks, which may have provided good support to the market to hit fresh record highs, although domestic institutional investors preferred to book some profits at highs.

FIIs net bought Rs 9,217 crore worth of shares during the passing week, which resulted into a reduction in their net selling for August month to Rs 21,369 crore. DIIs remained buyers, pumping in Rs 1,198 crore in the week (although the inflow was low compared to previous weeks) and Rs 48,279 crore in August.

Technically, the Nifty 50 formed a Doji-like pattern on the daily charts, and on the weekly timeframe, the index recorded a long bullish candlestick pattern, with the continuation of higher highs-higher lows formation, and positive bias in momentum indicators. Hence, the upward journey is likely to continue with a focus on the 25,400-25,500 levels next week but the intermittent consolidation can't be ruled out with immediate support of 25,000, with 24,800 being crucial support.

The weekly options data indicates that the 25,700-25,800 are the next levels to watch on the higher side, with support at 25,000 in coming sessions.