Indian equity benchmarks -- Sensex and Nifty50 -- surged on Thursday amid a broad-based rally after the Fed announced its first rate hike in more than three years, as expected, and exuded confidence the world's largest economy is strong.

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NSE

The Nifty50 is now some 290-odd points above its 200-day moving average (DMA) in a bullish signal.

What do the charts suggest for Dalal Street now?

The Nifty50 has formed a long bull candle on the daily chart with the two-back-to-back gap-ups remaining unfilled, suggesting a sharp upmove ahead, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

"One may expect another opening gap-up this week," he said.

Index may lose steam

"The bulls have conquered the sturdy wall of 16,800-17,000 levels, which should now act as immediate support. On the flipside, 17,500 followed by 17,650 are the next levels to watch out for. But the index may not have a similar sort of swift move seen in last 5-6 trading sessions," Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives at Angel One, told CNBCTV18.com.

He expects some consolidation or small bouts of profit booking this week.

Chavan believes the Nifty Bank plays a vital role as approaches its crucial juncture of 36,700-37,000. "Since the Russia-Ukraine war is yet to completely come to an end, it would be important to keep a tab of these developments regularly," he said.

Here are key things to know about the market before the March 21 session:

SGX Nifty

At 8:30 am, Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures -- an early indicator of the Nifty index -- were up 108.5 points or 0.6 percent at 17,390.5, having risen as much as 180.5 points earlier in the day.

Global markets

Equities in other Asian markets began the day with cautious gains as fighting raged on in Ukraine. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 percent in early hours.

China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.3 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.4 percent and Singapore's Straits Times 0.2 percent. South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.3 percent.

S&P 5oo futures were down 0.3 percent. On Friday, the three main Wall Street indices rose led by tech stocks after talks ended between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the Russia-Ukraine war without big surprises.

What to expect on Dalal Street

HDFC Securities' Shetti is of the view that the Nifty50's current decisive breakout around the support zone of 16,800-17,000 levels points to the continuation of sharp upside momentum in the near term.

He sees 17,800-18,000 as potential upside targets to be watched in the next few weeks with immediate support at 17,050.

Rahul Sharma, Co-Founder or Equity99 Advisory, warns that any major news on the Ukraine crisis might trigger selling for the markets, and advises investors to deploy cash in parts to take advantage of any fall.

He expects auto, metal, FMCG and real estate stocks to be in focus on Monday.

Levels to watch out for

Sharma pointed out the following levels:

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased Indian shares worth a net Rs 2,800.1 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data. However, net sales by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) stood at Rs 678.5 crore.

Call/put open interest

According to exchange data, the maximum call open interest is accumulated at 17,500, with 1.4 lakh contracts, and next at 17,400, with 1.1 lakh contracts. The maximum put open interest is at 16,000, with 1.1 lakh contracts, and 17,200, with more than one lakh contracts.

This suggests the Nifty50 is yet to take out resistance at 17,400 followed by a major hurdle at 17,500, and immediate support comes in at 17,200 followed by a strong cushion only at 16,000.

Long build-up

Here are five stocks that saw an increase in open interest as well as price:

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

As many as 10 stocks in the BSE 500 universe hit 52-week highs: Sun Pharma, Titan, GHCL, GNFC, JK Paper, Bharat Dynamics, Cholamandalam Investment, PGHH, Timken and Trent.

52-week lows

One stock on the index hit a 52-week low: Thyrocare.

Fear index

The India VIX -- known in market parlance as the fear index -- dropped 6.3 percent to a one-month closing low of 22.6 on Thursday. Late last month, Russia' move to invade Ukraine had sent the gauge hitting a 20-month high.

First Published:Mar 20, 2022 9:56 AM IST