Market turns choppy; Sensex tests 20,000 level

The S&P BSE Sensex, which reclaimed 20,000 levels after opening on a subdued note, also witnessed some selling pressure as investors preferred to book profits after 1700 point rally in the past five session

The S&P BSE Sensex, which reclaimed 20,000 levels after opening on a subdued note, also witnessed some selling pressure as investors preferred to book profits after 1700 point rally in the past five sessions.

Analysts are expecting the index to touch 6,000 in the near term but caution of profit booking sessions before that.

"The prophets of doom have been proved wrong temporarily and profits seem to be coming at least on paper to the harried investors. The run up has been fast and furious and a lot of shorts are being forced to run for cover. The stability in the rupee has been adding to the positive sentiment on the bourses, said IIFL report.

"Given the pace at which the market has run up, a 6000 mark on the Nifty seems achievable in the coming days. But the market has to content with the fact that some sell-off could be witnessed given the precarious situation; both national and international. It would be prudent to remain cautious at this juncture and use the gains to reshuffle your portfolio instead of blindly adding positions," the report added.

The rupee weakened against the US dollar after a sharp rally in previous session. The partially convertible rupee was at 63.96, down 12 paise, against previous close of 63.84 per dollar.

At 09:40 a.m.; the 50-share index was at 5,901.10, up 4.35 points or 0.07 per cent. It touched a high of 5,913.45 and a low of 5,842.10 in trade today.

The S&P BSE Sensex was at 20,046.16, up 49.07 points or 0.25 per cent. It touched a high of 20,047.13 and a low of 19,820.24 in trade today.

"Taking into account the current strong optimism, the Nifty may further extend gains towards 5,950 - 6,000 if the index manages to sustain above 5,905. On the flipside, the intraday support levels are seen at 5,850- 5,808. From a positional traders' perspective, keeping in mind the weekly 'Lower Top Lower Bottom' formation and the overall Elliot wave count, we suggest that the bulls should look to book their profits and lighten positions as the markets move towards the 6,000 / 6,100 levels," said Angel Broking note.

The S&P BSE Midcap Index was up 0.79 per cent and the S&P BSE Smallcap Index was up 0.38 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, the S&P BSE Realty Index gained 1.62 per cent, the S&P BSE Capital Goods Index advanced 1.54 per cent and the S&P BSE Metal Index advanced 1.29 per cent.

The S&P BSE FMCG Index was down 0.27 per cent.

The market breadth was positive on the NSE with 663 gainers against 436 losers.

The foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 2,563.6 crore while domestic institutional investors were net sellers worth Rs 1,398.05 crore on Tuesday as per the provisional data from the National Stock Exchange

RAHUL KUMAR GUPTA
PGDM