Indian equity benchmarks halted a five-day-long winning streak on Friday though recovered all of their intraday losses. Gains in heavyweights such as Infosys, TCS, HDFC Bank and L&T helped the market avoid deeper losses at the end of a choppy session.

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What do the charts suggest for Dalal Street now?

The Nifty50 has formed a reasonable positive candle at the lows on the daily chart with minor upper and lower shadows, suggesting the emergence of sharp buying on dips, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

"Friday's low (18,120) could now be considered a new higher low of the sequence. This is a positive indication and one may expect further upside in the near term," he said.

Time to be stock-specific, traders

The market is now showing typical behaviour, which generally happens after a decent rally and if any major event is close by, Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst - Technical & Derivatives at Angel One, told CNBCTV18.com. "Since we are inching closer to the mega event, the Union Budget, key indices seem to have slipped into a consolidation mode," he said.

"For the week ahead, the next level to watch out for remains at 18,350 and once it is surpassed, there is no major level visible before 18,600. We do not expect a runaway move in the week and hence, traders are advised to keep focusing on individual stocks," Chavan added.

Here are key things to know about the market before the January 17 session:

Global markets

Wall Street’s main indices ended a choppy session on a mixed note on Friday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 0.6 percent, but the Dow Jones falling 0.6 percent. Banking heavyweights JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup kicked off the fourth-quarter earnings season with mixed results.

Earlier that day, European shares fell as investors worried about how imminent US rate hikes would affect the economy. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed one percent lower.

What to expect on Dalal Street

HDFC Securities' Shetti believes the near-term uptrend of the Nifty remains intact. Sustainable buying from the dips and an overall positive pattern on the daily chart signal the next upside target of 18,600 this week, with immediate support at 18,100, he said.

The undertone of the market appears to be bullish on the weekly timeframe, said independent technical analyst Manish Shah.

He sees the current upmove being intact as long as the Nifty keeps above 18,100. The Nifty is expected to pause around resistance at 18,640-18,700 for a couple of days, he said.

Key levels to watch out for

Nifty50: Key support for the index is expected at 18,200 and 18,100, with a sacrosanct base still at 18,000, said Angel One's Chavan.

Bank Nifty: For the banking index, he sees important support at 37,500 followed by 37,000, and resistance in the form of "a sturdy wall" at 39,000, he said.

FII/DII activity

Provisional exchange data shows foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold Indian equities worth Rs 1,598.2 crore on Friday. However, domestic institutional investors made net purchases of Rs 371.4 crore.

Call/put open interest

Exchange data shows the maximum call open interest is accumulated at the strike price of 19,000, with 1.5 lakh contracts, and the maximum put open interest is at 18,200, with one lakh contracts.

This suggests significant resistance at Mount 19,000 and support at 18,200.

Long build-up

Here are five stocks that saw an increase in open interest as well as price, suggesting a build-up of long positions:

Long unwinding

(Decrease in open interest as well as price)

Short-covering

(Increase in price and decrease in open interest)

Short build-up

(Increase in open interest and decrease in price)

52-week highs

In the BSE 500 pack, Infosys, L&T, IDFC, Adani Enterprises, Adani Green, India Cements, Aditya Birla Fashion, Tanla, Balrampur Chini, KPR Mill, Chambal Fertilisers and Deepak Fertilisers were among the 22 stocks that hit 52-week highs.

52-week lows

Two stocks in the broadest index on the bourse hit 52-week lows: Gillette and Dilip Buildcon.

Volatility gauge

NSE's India VIX index — which gauges the expectation of volatility — eased 0.9 percent to 16.6 on Friday.