Technicals: Short-covering may trigger buying

The markets opened with jitters and recovered in late trade after crude prices eased in the international markets. The traded volumes improved marginally and the market breadth was marginally negative as the combined exchange figures were 1710:2076. The capitalisation of the figures were positive as the commensurate figures were Rs 6,591 crore:Rs 5,701 crore.

The indices have closed at upper end of the intraday range as pre-expiry short covering cum mild bargain hunting reversed initial losses.

The intraday range specified for Tuesday at the 4385 / 4265 held as the index traded within these parameters. The weak market internals indicate a continued lack of whole-hearted buying, which alone can rescue the bulls in the absolute near term. The oriental charts indicate optimism as the closing has been near the open and the "long legged doji" formation has a "long shadow" below it, in contrast with the previous session.

The bulls will need to keep the Nifty spot above 4320. On the flip side, a consistent trade below the 4300 level will be a negative indicator. The coming session is likely to witness a range of 4380 on advances and 4245 on declines.

The outlook for the markets on Wednesday is that of cautious optimism as the bulls are still on the ropes. The major buying trigger is the pre-expiry short covering.

Vijay L. Bhambwani
(CEO- BSPLindia.com)

The author is a Mumbai-based investment consultant and invites feedback at vijay@BSPLindia.com

Mandatory disclosure: the analyst has no exposure to any scrip/s recommended above.