Bulls vs Bears: Here's what to expect on Dalal Street today

Indian equity market extended losses for the sixth straight session on Friday, amid mixed global markets, unabated foreign fund outflows, and rising crude oil prices. Sensex declined 135.37 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 51,360.42. Nifty fell 67.10 points or 0.44 per cent to close at 15,293.50.

BSE midcap and small-cap indices slipped 145 points and 213 points, respectively.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 236.77 lakh crore against Rs 239.20 lakh crore market cap in the previous session.

Titan, Wipro, Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, PowerGrid, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, Maruti, TCS and Hindustan Unilever were the biggest Sensex losers, falling up to 6.06 per cent.

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were among the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 2.63 per cent in the previous session.

Here's a look at what analysts said about the direction the market is likely to take today.

Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel One

"Traders are advised to take one step at a time in the forthcoming week and should ideally look to lighten up positions during the day only. Since we are mirroring the global trends, markets can surprise us anytime in either direction. There is a famous saying in the market that one should avoid catching a falling knife (market). This holds true for momentum traders but with a slightly broader perspective, we are of the strong belief that no one should certainly start accumulating quality propositions in a staggered manner."

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities

"The market has been in a sharp down trend over the last 14-15 sessions. Minor consolidations or small upside bounces have resulted in a sharp weakness as of now. Hence, any upside bounce from here could be a sell on rise opportunity for the short term. On the higher side, the area of 15600 levels (mid part of Thursday's long bear candle) is expected to be a crucial overhead resistance ahead and is unlikely to be broken on the upside in a hurry. After a small upside bounce, the Nifty could slide down to the 15,000-14,800 levels in the near term."

Palak Kothari, Research Associate, Choice Broking

"Nifty may find support around 15,000 levels while on the upside 15500 may act as an immediate hurdle. On the other hand, Bank nifty has support at 32,300 levels while resistance at 33800 levels.
Overall, Nifty is looking weak on charts, breaching below 15000 can show more downside."

Vinod Nair, Head Of Research, Geojit Financial Services

"Rising inflation and policy tightening by global central banks are forcing the market to discount the possibilities of recession. With central banks’ policy tone pointing towards continued rate hikes of higher magnitude, we can expect FIIs to maintain their selling spree. The domestic market will continue to trade with high volatility in the near term, however, the ongoing corrections are opportunities in disguise on medium to long-term investments."

Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst, LKP Securities

"The index is trading in oversold territory and if holds the support of 32,500 can witness a pull-back rally towards the 33,500 level. The downside support if breached will lead to a fresh round of selling towards 30,000 levels."