Dalal Street Corner: From rising Covid cases globally to F&O expiry, what should investors do on Thursday

The last hour selling spree has dragged the Indian markets in the red zone on Thursday. Benchmark indices witnessed a highly volatile session with the Nifty50 closing below 17500 and the Sensex down by 323.34 points dragged by the auto, IT, FMCG stocks. 

While the broader markets closed mixed as the mid-cap index slipped 0.4 per cent and the small-cap gained by 0.7 per cent at the market close.  The Nifty Bank outperformed on the back of buying interest in private lenders such as ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank. ONGC surged most by over 4 per cent, followed by Adani Ports almost up 4 per cent, and Coal India up around 2 per cent. While Eicher Motors, Tata Consumer and Maruti declined the most by nearly 3 per cent. About 1950 shares traded in the green, 1249 shares traded in the red, and 142 shares remained unchanged. 

The investors continued showing buying interest for Latent View Analytics, a newly-listed stock. The counter has almost tripled after its debut as the stock rallied as much as 20 percent to hit a record Rs 586.50 per share on the NSE.  

Similarly, the shares of One97 Communications' Paytm, recovered sharply during Wednesday’s trading session by almost 19 percent to hit Rs 1777 per share on the NSE. 

The global rise in the covid cases has somehow impacted the domestic markets today. Germany has announced lockdowns due to the rise in the cases from today itself, said Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities in his post market close comment. 

He added, immediate support and resistance, on the technical front, in Nifty50 are 17300 and 17630 respectively. For Bank Nifty support and resistance are 36800 and 37600, respectively.  

The November series F&O expiry is expected tomorrow. Parth Nyati, Founder, Tradingo said, “If we look at the options data then 17500 PE writers were active and showing confidence for a major part of the day but they were on the backfoot after Germany news, hence, sharp selling was witnessed.” 

“Nifty tried to respect its 20-Week EMA but 17600 acted as a strong resistance as strong support. On the downside, a swing low of 17216 is an immediate support level but it is under threat where Nifty is likely to head towards 100-DMA which is currently placed at 17100 level,” Nyati added further. 

Vinod Nair, Research Head, Geojit Financial Services said, “Unable to hold onto its gains, domestic indices edged lower in today’s tumultuous session amid mixed sentiments across global peers.” 

He added, “On the domestic front, gains in banking and financial stocks were offset by losses in Oil & Gas and auto sectors. The banking sector was in the radar as the government proposed to privatise two banks along with making banking amendments for the winter session to facilitate privatization"