What’s ahead for Nifty as Santa rally ends up badly; Next few days critical for Bank Nifty

What’s ahead for Nifty as Santa rally ends up badly; Next few days critical for Bank Nifty

By Anand James

The pursuit of a Santa rally ended up badly, with Nifty closing the week in deep red ahead of Christmas. There have been significant cuts across the board, especially in the small and mid-caps affecting the risk appetite of retail traders and usually, such a sell-off takes a while before upside attempts gather enough courage. Matter of fact, the losses have been unilateral, with 87% of F&O stocks witnessing long unwinding and 89% of NSE stocks witnessing at least 5% losses from the last week’s high, with hardly any sign of fightback. This signals that fear is at an extreme. Usually, such situations see a rebound, offering a glimmer of hope for a reversal in the last week of the year.

That strong horizontal support is seen way low at 36600 making the next few days’ trades critical for Bank Nifty. It is now in the vicinity of 41600 a good support that can allow the ongoing sell-off to cool down, especially as some of its constituent stocks had ended with a hammer candlestick pattern. It is also the level that had kept the lid on upsides in September as well as November 2022.

(Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. Views expressed are the author’s own. Please consult your financial advisor before investing.)