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

Benchmark indices ended lower for the fifth straight session on Tuesday amid partial recovery in Asian markets. The indices attempted a comeback during the session but gave up gains in the last 45 minutes of trade. Sensex fell 37 points to 57,107 and Nifty lost 9 points to 17,007. Mid-cap and small-cap indices on BSE rose 1.24 points and 137 points, respectively. Oil and gas and pharma shares were the top sectoral gainers with their BSE indices zooming 229 points and 156 points, respectively. Banking, capital goods and consumer durables shares were the top losers with their indices losing 347 points, 219 points and 230 points, respectively.

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

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities

"Nifty is temporarily halting its weakness near the crucial lower support of 16,800 levels, as per the concept of change in polarity. The area of 16,800 has acted as an important value area and has resulted in significant movement from its support/resistance/breakouts in the past. Hence, having declined swiftly from the highs of 18K mark this time, there is a possibility of a sustainable upside bounce in the market from near this support. Immediate resistance is placed around 17,150-17,200 levels."

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities

"Momentum indicators suggest strong possibility of a pullback rally from the current levels. We are of the view that the bearish sentiment in the market is still intact and fresh pullback rally possible, if the index succeeds to trade above 200-day SMA (Simple Moving average) or 16,940/56,950. Above which, the index could retest the level of 17,150-17,200/57,500-57,700. On the flip side, below 16,940/56,950, it could slip till 16,850-16,800/56,600-56,500. The intraday texture of the market is non directional, hence level-based trading would be the ideal strategy for the day traders.”

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

"Markets may witness some consolidation or pause after the recent decline. However, mixed trends across sectors would continue to offer trading opportunities across the board. Besides, the beginning of the MPC meet and global cues would keep the volatility high. We feel it’s prudent to continue with the defensive pack for long trades until we see some stability."

Also read: Sensex, Nifty fall for fifth straight session; Tata Steel, Titan, Kotak Bank top losers