Week Ahead....

The BSE Sensex fell 502 points to 57,362, and the Nifty50 declined 134 points to 17,153, while the broader markets were largely flat. The BSE Midcap index was down 0.15 percent, while the Smallcap index gained a third of a percent.

Auto, Bank, Financial Services, and FMCG stocks hit hard in the passing week, while Metal hogged the limelight with a 5 percent rally, followed by Oil & Gas, IT and Energy stocks.

Indian markets after recent sharp recovery remained resilient despite global concerns as the Nifty50 consistently held above the crucial 17,000 mark. In the coming week, benchmark indices are expected to remain volatile given the monthly F&O expiry and keep a close watch on Ukraine war & oil prices for further direction and monthly auto sales data.

Technically Nifty50 has formed bearish candle on the daily as well as weekly charts as the closing prices were below opening levels for both periods. The index was down 0.4 percent on Friday and 0.8 percent for the week.

The holding above the crucial 17,000 mark for last six consecutive sessions is largely an indication of positive bias for the market in coming sessions, but overall the index has been rangebound for last few sessions with a band of 17,000-17,450 levels, which we feel needs to be broken on either side for directional move.

The Option data indicated that the index is expected to consolidate above 17,000 mark which could be crucial support, whereas 17,500 could be resistance level for the Nifty in the coming week.