Thursday’s trading session for the market can be summarised in one word – “see-saw”. The Nifty hit a record high in the early minutes of trade, even crossing 25,600 at one point and it seemed as if the Indian markets are cheering the Fed rate cut much louder than Wall Street did overnight.

But similar to Wall Street’s session on Wednesday, that is where the good part ended for Dalal Street as well. The index saw a bout of profit booking from the record high levels and even if it managed to end with gains, it corrected 200 points from the highest point. The weekly options expiry trade also came into effect on Thursday for the Nifty.

The pain though, came from the broader markets. Both Nifty Midcap and Smallcap index fell for the third day in a row. A bad piece of news for Vodafone Idea dragged the stock 20% lower to its biggest single-day drop since January 2022 and also took Indus Towers along with it, which ended 9% lower.

57 stocks on the Nifty Midcap index and 78 stocks on the Smallcap index ended the day with losses. PSUs continued to underperform with most state-run companies, barring NTPC, seeing losses between 1% to 5%.

Index	Off Day’s High
Nifty	~200 Points
Nifty Bank	316 Points
Nifty Midcap	857 Points
Nifty Smallcap	423 Points

For the week so far, the Midcap index is down 1.1%, the Smallcap index is down nearly 2%, while the PSE index has already declined 2.5% and is set for its third straight weekly drop. The Nifty is up 0.2% so far on a weekly basis and needs to close above 25,356 to post gains for the week.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the cash market on Thursday, while domestic institutions were net sellers.

A small negative candle was formed on the daily chart with long upper shadow, said Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities. This kind of pattern indicates false upside breakout of the range movement at 25,500 levels. He advises using dips towards 25,200 – 25,100 levels as a buying opportunity. Immediate resistance is at 25,600.

LKP Securities’ Rupak De said that the Nifty sentiment going forward may remain sideways to weak as long as the Nifty remains below the 25,550 – 25,600 range. On the lower end, support is at 25,350, below which the Nifty can fall to 25,100 – 25,000.

Aditya Agarwal of Sanctum Wealth said that the Nifty will find immediate support around levels of 25,360 and a close below that may put further pressure on the index towards 25,160 levels. On the upside, 25,540 – 25,580 will act as a stiff resistance.

It almost comes across as if the Nifty Bank is trading on a completely different planet. While other indices are struggling for momentum, the Nifty Bank has gained over 2,000 points in this six-day winning streak and came within four points of its previous record high on Thursday. In another positive sign, the index has closed above the mark of 53,000 and is up over 2% for the week after another 2.5% surge last week.

The Nifty Bank has formed a shooting star candlestick pattern on the daily chart which indicates a decline in buying interest, said Hrishikesh Yedve of Asit C Mehta Investment Interrmediates. He said that the high of this pattern, which is 53,350, will act as an immediate hurdle and advises a “sell-on-rise” strategy to short-term traders. Sustaining above that level can take the Nifty Bank to 53,500 – 53,800 levels. On the downside, 52,750, followed by 52,000 are support levels.

What Are The F&O Cues Indicating?

Nifty 50’s September futures shed 1.6% or 2.1 lakh shares in Open Interest on Thursday. They are now trading at a premium of 73.3 points from 18.55 points earlier. On the other hand, Nifty Bank’s September futures added 0.9% or 16,635 shares in Open Interest on Thursday. Nifty 50’s Put-Call Ratio now at 1.26 from 1.13 earlier.

Chambal Fertilisers, NALCO, SAIL have entered the F&O Ban.

Balrampur Chini is out of the F&O ban.

Aarti Industries, RBL Bank, Granules India, Birlasoft, GNFC, LIC Housing, Biocon, PNB, Oracle Financial continue to remain in the F&O ban.

Nifty 50 on the Call side for September 26 expiry:

On the Call side, the Nifty 50 strikes between 25,500 and 27,000 have seen Open Interest addition for next Thursday’s monthly F&O expiry.

Strike	OI Change	Premium
27,000	46.3 Lakh Added	1.95
26,000	23.1 Lakh Added	12.35
25,500	22.2 Lakh Added	151.1
25,800	14.7 Lakh Added	36.35

Nifty 50 on the Put side for September 26 expiry:

On the Put side, the Nifty 50 strikes between 22,500 to 25,500 have seen Open Interest addition for next Thursday’s monthly expiry.

Strike	OI Change	Premium
22,500	25.6 Lakh Added	2.7
25,500	20 Lakh Added	161.75
24,700	18.5 Lakh Added	20.2
24,000	15.8 Lakh Added	6.7

Fresh long positions were seen in these stocks on Thursday, meaning an increase in both price and Open Interest:

Stock	Price Change	OI Change
United Breweries	4.37%	12.85%
AU Small Finance Bank	3.24%	10.94%
Escorts Kubota	0.85%	10.81%
NTPC	2.52%	9.94%
Coforge	1.40%	9.34%

Fresh short positions were seen in these stocks on Thursday, meaning a decline in price but an increase in Open Interest:

Stock	Price Change	OI Change
Chambal Fertilisers	-8.18%	28.24%
Indus Towers	-7.90%	12.57%
Can Fin Homes	-2.81%	7.02%
Wipro	-0.30%	7.00%
IRCTC	-2.10%	6.18%

Short covering was seen in these names on Thursday, meaning an increase in price but a decline in Open Interest:

Stock	Price Change	OI Change
L&T Tech	1.20%	-7.67%
Persistent Systems	2.34%	-7.04%
Maruti	1.18%	-4.31%
MRF	1.95%	-3.91%
Hindustan Copper	1.57%	-3.38%

Unwinding of long positions was seen in these stocks on Thursday, meaning a decline in both price and Open Interest:

Stock	Price Change	OI Change
Vodafone Idea	-14.59%	-98.07%
Oracle Financial	-2.65%	-8.72%
Dalmia Bharat	-0.67%	-5.42%
Petronet LNG	-2.36%	-5.31%
Ramco Cements	-1.28%	-4.56%

These are the stocks to watch out for ahead of Friday’s trading session:

• Indus Towers: Clarifies that the company is prompt in making all material disclosures as required and that it has not withheld any information or event that requires to be disclosed. Indus Towers shares fell 9% after the Supreme Court rejected the curative petition filed by Telecom companies over computation of their AGR dues, which led to Vodafone Idea shares falling nearly 20%. Vodafone Idea is one of Indus Towers’ biggest customers.
• Tata Power: Adaro International (Singapore) seeks arbitration over coal supply dispute. Adaro has made a claim of $106 million, while Tata Power has made a claim of $229.94 million. Both companies are in serious discussion to amicably resolve the dispute and have agreed to proceed with the arbitration. Tata Power and Adaro had signed a coal supply agreement in August 2020 for the supply of high calorific value coal for the Trombay Power Plant.
• Reliance Infra: To issue up to 12.56 crore equity shares and / or warrants convertible into equity shares at an issue price of ₹240 per share through a preferential allotment. Will also seek enabling authorisation of members for raising of funds aggregating up to ₹3,000 crore through the issue of equity shares or any other eligible securities to Qualified Institutional Buyers through a QIP. The shares / warrants will be issued to promoter group entity Risee Infinity Pvt. Ltd. and non-promoter entities Florintree Innovation LLP and Fortune Financial & Equities Services Pvt. Ltd.
• Geojit Financial Services: To raise up to ₹200 crore through a rights issue. The rights issue price has been fixed at ₹50 per share and shareholders will be eligible to receive one share for every six shares held as on the record date.
• IIFL Finance: RBI has lifted restrictions imposed on the company’s Gold Loan business. RBI has allowed the company to resume sanctioning, disbursal, assignment, securitisation and sale of gold loans. RBI had imposed restrictions on March 4, 2024 due to material supervisory concerns. IIFL Finance’s gold loan AUM had declined to ₹12,162 crore from ₹26,081 crore due to the restrictions. Over one million customers had closed their accounts since the RBI imposed restrictions on the business.
• NTPC: Board approves investment of ₹11,131 crore in Darlipali Super Thermal Power Project, Stage-II (1X800 MW). The board has also approved investment of ₹9,701 crore in Sipat Supar Thermal Power Project, Stage-III (1X800 MW).
• Phoenix Mills: Arm Casper Realty has emerged as the highest bidder for two city-centric plots in Mohali, Punjab. Casper was declared as the highest bidder with a combined bid value of nearly ₹891 crore.
• Prestige Estates: Issues corporate guarantee of ₹545 crore for Thomsun Realtors and Techzone Technologies.
• Rane Holdings: Acquires remaining 51% stake in JV company Rane NSK Steering Systems to make it a wholly-owned subsidiary, which will now be renamed as Rane Steering Systems.