Stock market today: After an extended weekend due to the stock market holiday on Monday, the Indian secondary market is expected the follow the global market sentiments. Dalal Street is expected to react after the profit-booking trigger in the US stock market. The US stock market took a breather as most of the major indices ended loser on Monday. The Dow Jones index ended 0.41 percent lower while the S&P 500 index lost 0.31 percent. Tech-heavy Nasdaq went off 0.27 percent. Coming back to the Indian stock market, in the previous session on Friday last week, the Nifty 50 index went up 84 points and ended at the 22,096 level, the BSE Sensex added 190 points and finished at the 72,831 mark whereas the Bank Nifty index gained 178 points and closed at the 46,863 level. In the board market, the small-cap index outperformed the 50-stock index even as the advance-decline ratio remained positive at 2.7:1.
On the outlook for the Nifty 50 index, Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said, "The Nifty 50 index formed a large bull candle on March 22 and ended the week higher by 0.33%. On weekly charts, it formed a high-wave candle. Whether the current upward momentum continues after the looming long weekend will be interesting to track. Nifty could rise towards 22,297 and later 22,527 over the coming few sessions while the 21,860 to 21,875 band could offer support."
On the outlook for the Bank Nifty today, Om Mehra, Technical Analyst at SAMCO Securities said, "The Bank Nifty exhibited a tough performance and registered a modest uptick of 0.58 percent settling at 46,863.75 in last week. Bank Nifty has bounced back from 100 EMA (Exponential Moving Average) and is now placed above 40-day EMA. The key technical indicators such as MACD and RSI indicate a neutral stance. Interestingly, the volume profile highlights the 46,000 level as a key support zone. As long as the Index remains above this pivot level, the prevailing indication remains for an upward trajectory in the near term."
On factors that may dictate the Indian stock market today, Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research at Motilal Oswal said, "This week is a truncated week and the derivatives' monthly expiry, we might see some volatility while Nifty is likely to consolidate at higher levels. Also, US GDP data and other key economic data would keep investors busy."
Speaking on the stocks in focus today, Shilpa Rout, AVP - Derivatives Research at Prabhudas Lilladher said, "Markets witnessed very volatile moves all through the week gone by. The stocks we are watching out for are: BPCL, the support is placed at ₹570 and it can rally up to ₹660 levels; Britannia, the stock has a breakout above 200-DMA around ₹4840 and investors can look at a target of ₹5000; Laurus Labs, volumes have been high in the past two sessions and can take the stock to ₹460 to ₹480 levels."
On stocks to buy today, stock market experts — Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director at Choice Broking; Ganesh Dongre, Senior Manager — Technical Research at Anand Rathi, and Drumil Vithlani, Technical Research Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio — recommended six buy or sell stocks for today.