The BSE Sensex closed almost muted at 81,086.2 on Friday, but still hovering at over three-week highs, tracking a pause in global equities rally ahead of US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech later in the day. Traders will closely watch his comments on the economy and the possible rate cut trajectory. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday's release minutes observed that the policy must continue to be actively disinflationary to ensure anchoring of inflation to its target level, while also noting challenges in balancing price pressures and supporting economic growth.
Nifty opened on a flat note and consolidated during the day to close with gains of ~12 points. On the daily charts, we can observe that the Nifty has closed positive for the seventh consecutive trading session. The up move appears a bit overstretched as it has been rising higher without any meaningful pullback towards the hourly moving averages. The hourly momentum indicator has a negative crossover along with a negative divergence. Thus, can be an intraday dip and hence caution on longs is advised. The Nifty is also trading close to the 78.6 per cent retracement mark 24830 which shall restrict further upside. Thus, the overall trend remains sideways, and the range of consolidation is 24200 – 25000.
The top performers were Tata Motors (+1.5%), Sun Pharma (+1.4%), Bharti Airtel (+1.3%) and ICICI Bank (+1.1%). The BSE Sensex added 0.8% for the week, notching the second consecutive weekly gain amid hopes that the Fed may start cutting interest rates next month
