Sensex, Nifty may continue to rise; 5 things to know before today’s opening bell

Sensex and Nifty continued to rise for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday. The S&P BSE Sensex closed 533 points or 0.88% higher at 61,150, while the NSE Nifty 50 index ended 156 points or 0.87% higher at 18,212. Ahead of the weekly futures and options expiry session, the SGX Nifty was up over 100 points, indicating a positive start to the day’s trading. Global cues were mixed as the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed in the green, but Asian markets failed to reflect the upward move. Three major IT companies reported their earnings yesterday, which is likely to set the pace for the rest of the week.

global signal: The S&P 500 rose 0.28% on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq rose 0.23%, and the Dow Jones rose 0.11%, pushing inflation in the US to a 40-year high. In Asian markets, Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Nikkei 225, TOPIX, KOSPI and KOSDAQ all ended in the red.

Technical take: Nifty formed a small positive candle on the daily chart on Wednesday, said Nagraj Shetty, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities. “Technically, this pattern indicates continuation of the bullish momentum in the market. Hence, there is a possibility of another gap in the coming sessions,” he said.

level to watch: The trend remains positive and analysts expect the indices to move closer to all-time highs. “The market has successfully closed above 18200 and we should look at 18400-18500 as the next target zone. If we find intraday slips or corrections, traders can look at these opportunities to buy the index for higher targets,” said Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments. Meanwhile, the support for the index is around 18090.

Call and OI: For the January series, the maximum call open interest is placed at 18500 strike with 17.3 million contracts. This is followed by 16.7 lakh contracts on 18000 strike. Put OI was highest at 17500 strikes with 28.9 lakh contracts, followed by 1800 strikes with 20.4 lakh contracts. “On the options front (end of January 2022) Nifty, out-of-the-money options have witnessed an increase in call buying and put writing. Hence, we expect Nifty to trade with a positive bias,” said analysts at IIFL Securities.

Results today: Mindtree, Gautam Gems, GTPL Hathway, Tata Metaliks, Mega Corporation, Aditya Birla Money, Athena Global Technologies, CESC and Eureka Industries are some of the companies that will announce their quarterly earnings today.