Dalal Street Corner: Markets snap 2-week losing streak, led by IT stocks; what should investors do on Monday?

The domestic markets snap a two-week losing streak, led by the IT stocks and Bajaj Twins on the fifth last week of 2021. Both the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty each gained 1 per cent, while the Nifty Bank gained 0.5 per cent and the Nifty Midcap grew over 1 per cent during this week.

The share market on the last day of this week closed witnessing a selling spree, as the Sensex fell over 1000 points from the day’s high level and Nifty50 gave up the key level of 17200-mark. The decline was mainly led by RIL and private bank stocks amid Omicron, a new covid variant, scare.

Meanwhile, the broader markets outperformed the benchmarks as mid-cap ended flat with a negative bias, while small-cap up nearly 1 per cent. Similarly, the banking index Nifty Bank declined over 228 points or 0.63 per cent to 36279.8 level at the market close on Friday.

Of 50 scrips on the Nifty, 12 advanced and 38 declined at the market close. Power Grid dipped most by around 4 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries down around 3 per cent. While oil & gas along with fertiliser stocks such as as UPL, BPCL, IOC, ONGC each up between 1-2 per cent at the close.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd said, “The markets failed to extend the rebound and lost nearly a percent citing caution due to the COVID variant. Initially, the benchmark opened with an uptick tracking supportive global cues however selling pressure at higher levels dragged the indices lower as the day progressed.”

Mishra added, “We’re seeing a roller coaster ride in markets across the globe due to the news flow around the new COVID variant and we don’t expect any relief soon. Participants have no option but to align their position accordingly and prefer hedged positions. Investors should not worry much about these fluctuations and use the further dip to add quality stocks in a staggered manner.”

“We have seen a complete week of volatility, India Vix has touched the levels of 23.8 and now trading at 18.4, volatility continues in the global market also due to the Omicron variant of Covid and expects it to continue volatility in the coming weeks as well,” Yash Gupta, Equity Research Analyst, Angel One Ltd said in his post-market comment on Friday.

Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities pointed out, "Index closed a week at 17197 with gains of more than one percent and formed a doji sort of candle pattern on the weekly chart after two bearish candles which hint indecision in the markets.”

“Good demand zone for nifty is already formed near 17100-17000 zone and holding above said levels one can expect the index to march towards 17500-17600 zone in near term but if failed to hold then more profit booking can push the index to much lower levels, the immediate hurdle is coming near 17300-17440 zone,” Singre added in his post-market comment.