Markets to remain under pressure in the near term

Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said "We expect the market to remain under pressure in the near term given the global concerns. Thus, we suggest investors to have higher allocation towards defensive and large-caps."

Investors would look for economic data like US & UK GDP numbers, EU inflation, US & China Manufacturing PMI, and India’s Infrastructure output which is due next week for further direction.

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said the downside momentum continued in the market for the fourth consecutive sessions on Friday and Nifty closed the day lower by 68 points amidst volatility.

After opening with a flat note, the market made an attempt to move up in the early part of the session. It later showed volatile intraday swing moves on either side and finally closed near the lows.

Nifty on the weekly chart formed a long bear candle this week, which indicates a sharp reversal pattern on the downside. Normally, a formation of such long negative candles after a reasonable upmove signal chances of important top reversal pattern as per weekly chart. This week has registered a sharpest fall in one week -down by 2.5 per cent, in the last 25-26 weeks, he said.

The short term trend of Nifty continues to be weak. Having placed near the crucial lower supports, there is a possibility of minor upside bounce from near 19550 levels by next week. The anticipated upside bounce could be short lived and the market is expected to reverse down from the lower highs. Immediate resistance is around 19800-19850 levels, he added.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said throughout the week, investor sentiment was plagued by concerns of impending rate hikes driven by inflationary pressures. Rising crude oil prices, attributed to expectations of increased demand in China coupled with supply cuts, contributed to these inflation concerns.

Although the Fed chair opted to maintain existing interest rates, the suggestion of potential future rate hikes in response to inflationary pressures led to rising US bond yields and a stronger US dollar, prompting investors to seek refuge in safe-haven investments. This cast a shadow over the domestic market and displayed a bearish trend, he said.

Amid these conditions, PSU bank stocks saw gains, partially due to India's inclusion in JP Morgan's Government Bond Index, which resulted in a decline in bond yields.

However, overall, risk-averse sentiment prevailed, driven by the ongoing ascent of US bond yields and concerns regarding the possibility of higher rates persisting for an extended period, he said.