2022 is down to its last two trading sessions. The Nifty 50 is up 2.8 percent year-to-date so far and would look to end the year in positive territory. Courtesy last week's sell-off, the Nifty 50 is down for the December series, which expires today.

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The losses were cushioned courtesy the upmove on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday's session was rangebound and listless as the market traded in a very narrow band. Most of the broader market indices also ended the session without any significant movement on either side.

Analysts have been calling 18,070 and 18,100 as a crucial support for the Nifty 50 index. While it did manage to break below it during last week's sell-off, it is back above that mark and closed above 18,100 on Wednesday as well. Analysts are also confident that the Nifty 50 will close out the December series expiry above levels of 18,000.

Rajesh Kothari of AlfAccurate Advisors calls this market to be "interesting." He says that there are multiple opportunities across sectors and one must make judicious use of the same to add equity as an asset class. "As a PMS, we are generally by and large fully invested. But of course correction further provide opportunities to keep identifying the new companies where we see the valuations are in our favor," he told CNBC-TV18 during an interaction.

What do the charts suggest for Dalal Street?

According to Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities, the Nifty 50 index formed a small positive candle on the daily chart. Technically, this pattern indicates that the markets will take a breather after an upmove. He cites 18,150 - 18,200 to be a range of resistance for the Nifty 50 index which has not yet been surpassed decisively on the upside.

The Nifty Bank index is also witnessing buying at lower levels but is failing to cross the resistance of 43,000, where the highest Open Interest is on the call side.

Here are key things to know about the market ahead of the December 29 session:

SGX Nifty

On Thursday, Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures — an early indicator of the Nifty index — declined 71 points or 0.39 percent to 18,066.5, thereby pointing to a negative opening for the market.

Global Markets

Benchmarks on Wall Street ended lower for the second day in a row with a broader sell-off across the board. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 ended 1.1 and 1.2 percent respectively while the Nasdaq declined 1.4 percent, dragged by Apple, which fell to another 52-week low. Energy was the worst performing sector on the S&P 500.

What to expect on Dalal Street

HDFC Securities' Shetti says that although the Nifty 50 index is near a crucial resistance of 18,200, there is no indication of any sharp negative reversal pattern unfolding at the hurdle. He expects further consolidation or bouts of minor weakness in the next one or two sessions. Immediate support on the downside is at the 18,000.

The Nifty 50 index failed to sustain above the 50-day exponential moving average, as observed by Rupak De of LKP Securities. He wants the Nifty 50 index to give a decisive move above 18,155 for further directional upmove. He sees the downside support of 18,070 to be intact.

Siddhartha Khemka of Motilal Oswal also observed that while overall declines are being bought into, there is no follow-up buying which is seen at higher levels. He advises traders to maintain a strict stop loss and book profits at every rise.

Key levels to watch out for

For today's expiry, which will be the last of 2022, the 18,300 call strike on the Nifty 50 has added 22.5 lakh shares in Open Interest, followed by the 18,200 call, which added 22 lakh shares.

On the downside, the 18,100 put has added 30.2 lakh shares in Open Interest, followed by the 18,000 put and 17,900 put, that added 24.7 lakh and 8.2 lakh shares respectively.

Indiabulls Housing Finance and Balrampur Chini continue to remain in the F&O Ban, while Punjab National Bank is out of the ban period.

FII/DII activity

Short Covering (Increase in price and Decrease in open interest)

Long Unwinding (Decrease in price and in open interest)

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First Published:Dec 29, 2022 4:44 AM IST