Carrying on from last Friday, markets rallied further on Monday to close with healthy gains. A sell off from the highs in the afternoon session curbed the gains. The Nifty finally gained 50.8 points or 0.28% to close at 17,945.95. Broad market indices like the BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices gained more, thereby outperforming the Sensex/Nifty. Market breadth was positive on the BSE/NSE.
Sectorally, the top gainers were the BSE Power, Auto, Metal and Realty indices. The top losers were the BSE IT and Telecom indices.
Zooming into the Nifty 60 min charts, we can observe that although the index has corrected from the highs, it continues to trade above the 20 and 50 period MA on the 60 min charts and is consolidating in a range.
This is a healthy sign as a consolidation just below the life time highs indicates that the market is building strength before an eventual breakout to new life highs. We expect this consolidation to happen for a few more sessions before a breakout to the next upside targets of 18100-18200. Crucial supports to watch for weakness are at 17839. Immediate resistance is now at 18042.