The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the BSE will remain closed on April 21 on account of Ram Navami.
Wholesale commodity markets, including metal and bullion, will also remain shut. There will be no trading activity in the forex and commodity futures markets either.
On April 20, while the Sensex shed 243.62 points or 0.51% to end at 47,705.80, Nifty was down 63.10 points or 0.44% to close at 14,296.40.
“Index opened a day with a strong gap but profit booking from highs led the index to close in the negative note at 14,294 with loss of half percent and formed a strong bearish candle on the daily chart,” said Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.
The index has base around 14,200-14,250 zone if managed to sustain then some pullback possible if not saved then we may see next leg of a move towards 14,000 marks which is another strong support on the downside, on the higher side 14,400-14,500 will be stiff hurdle also can be considered as initial profit booking levels, Singre added.
Nifty auto and pharma indices rose 1 percent each, while IT index shed over 1 percent.
While UltraTech Cement, HDFC, HCL Technologies, Grasim Industries and Shree Cements were among the major losers on the Nifty, the gainers included Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Life, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Auto.
“Indian markets witnessed a bounce-back in its opening trade, however, failed to hold onto its early gains due to weak global cues and the possibility of a stricter lockdown in Maharashtra,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
“Despite the vaccine drive kindling hopes of recovery, the trend in the market will depend on positive developments like decreasing covid cases and lifting restrictions. IT and FMCG were the sectoral laggards while mid and small-caps outperformed,” Nair added.
On the BSE, the IT index fell 1 percent. Selling was also seen in banking and FMCG names. On the other hand, buying witnessed in the healthcare, capital goods, metal and realty stocks.
BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended in the green.
On April 20, the Indian Rupee erased early gains and ended flat at 74.88 per US Dollar against April 19’s close of 74.87.
“Rupee trades volatile in range of 74.50-75.00 amid the uncertainty on who will have upper hand in coming times, COVID-19 or COVID-19 vaccines. The first is spreading rapidly in India and the other is being jabbed as fast as possible to neutralise the virus,” said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities.
“This is impacting the rupee, hence volatile sessions are being witnessed. Going ahead the volatile range will be between 74.40-75.40,” Trivedi added.
