Dalal Street succumbs to profit-booking—Anil Singhvi highlights key Nifty50 & Nifty Bank levels

Domestic equity benchmarks gave in to profit-taking in afternoon deals amid volatile trade on Monday, as global markets staged mixed moves in the aftermath of the United States' shock move to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Globally, investors closely tracked headlines on the Latin American country. During the weekend, US President Donald Trump said he is putting Venezuela under temporary American control. Buying interest in FMCG, auto, capital goods and metal shares supported the market, helping the main gauges avoid lower levels, but selling pressure in financial, IT and energy shares weighed on sentiment.

The Sensex fell as much as 558.8 points from the day's high, at 85,883.5, to hit 85,324.7 on the downside in late afternoon deals. The Nifty50 sank to as low s 26,210.1 after rising to as high as 26,373.2 as the 50-scrip benchmark briefly traded in green territory in mid-morning deals.

Both indices began the day on a muted note, with the Sensex opening 122 points lower at 85,640.1 and the Nifty50 up 5.2 points at 26,333.7.

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EDITOR'S TAKE | Market guru Anil Singhvi sees strong support for Nifty50 at 26,125-26,235

As the market entered the final 90 minutes of the day's trade, Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi pointed out that there is no apparent trigger behind the sudden fall in the market with profit-taking at play.

Ruling out the possibility of the Venezuela situation causing the market fall, the market guru said that Dalal Street would have displayed signs of weakness in the morning itself had it been due to the news about the Latin American country.

Singhvi noted that given the action on the market screen, FII outflows seem to be behind the apparent selling on Dalal Street now.

Key levels to track in Nifty50 and Nifty Bank

The market wizard sees strong support in Nifty50 and Nifty Bank at 26,125-26,235 and 59,575-59,775 levels, and profit-booking at 26,325-26,375 and 60,150-60,350, respectively.

He suggests traders reduce overnight positions if the Nifty50 closes below 26,100 or if the Nifty Bank gives up the 59,700 mark at the close.

Singhvi believes that the trend will continue to be as long as the indices close above the 25,925 and 58,800 levels, respectively.

Market in afternoon trade

At 2:30 pm, both main gauges were down 0.4 per cent for the day, off intraday lows. The Sensex was down 317.8 points at 85,444.2 while the Nifty50 was down 99.9 points at 26,228.7.

Here's how some of the main NSE sectoral gauges fared:

Broader indices staged mixed moves, reflecting an indecisive trend among investors. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices were down 0.5 per cent and up 0.2 per cent, respectively.

Overall market breadth favoured the bears, with an advance-decline ratio of 3:5 as 1,616 stocks ascended while 2,571 descended on BSE.