Nifty broke the two-way winning streak on Dec 29 amidst low volumes. Nifty opened lower amidst softer global cues, but recovered immediately and made an intraday high of 17286 levels. Nifty gave back all the gains, and fell sharply during the last half hour where it fell nearly 80 points. At close, Nifty was down 0.11% or 20 points at 17214. Volumes were in line with the last week's average. Small-cap and Mid-cap indices bucked the trend and rose 0.49% and 0.13% respectively. Advances outnumbered the declines for the third day on the trot even as volumes remain on the lower side. This reflects the lower presence of institutional players due to which traders are having a field day.
Healthcare stocks were in demand today. Anti-viral Covid-19 pill Molnupiravir got the Indian drug regulator's nod on Tuesday and now will be manufactured by 13 Indian drug manufacturers. The Nifty Healthcare index rose 1.8% to 8860.2 extending gains for third consecutive sessions. The index has advanced 3.75% in three sessions.
In currency markets, Rupee depreciated 8 paisa after a 9 days of consecutive gains. Gold prices corrected by 0.5% in Indian markets.
Nifty found resistance on the downward sloping trend line adjoining previous swing highs on the daily chart. 50 days EMA has also been acting as a hurdle for the Nifty at 17340. Nifty has got strong support at the 17050 odd levels, derived from the upward sloping trend line, adjoining previous swing lows on the daily charts.