Market in limbo: May wait for direction till February

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The benchmark Indian equity indices have shown little movement over the past month, and market experts suggest that the lack of fresh triggers may keep the market range-bound in the near term.

On Friday, both Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex ended about 1% higher at 24,131.10 and 79,802.79 points respectively. “Today’s up-move seems like a bounce from the monthly expiry led correction yesterday," said Gaurav Dua, senior VP & head-Capital Market Strategy, Mirae Asset Sharekhan.

Sneha Poddar, VP-research, Wealth Management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, “The market seems to be taking a breather, and we might have to wait until February for a clearer direction." What could probably drive market movements going ahead would be a range of short-term news flow, including geopolitical developments, key economic indicators like gross domestic product (GDP) growth, or US economic data that might provide clues about the pace of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. Additionally, two major events on the horizon—the swearing-in ceremony of the US president-elect and India's Budget—are likely to provide a clearer market trend, she added.

“Until then, the Nifty is expected to consolidate within a broader range of 23,500 to 24,500," said Poddar. In the past one month, the Nifty 50 has dropped 1.4% while the Sensex is down 0.7%, whereas the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 250 are up 0.3% and 2.5%, respectively.

Dua of Mirae Asset Sharekhan believes that most of the price damage in large-cap stocks is likely behind us, suggesting that the Nifty could slip into a consolidation phase. "However, the pain may continue in the broader markets, as there are still pockets of stocks where