Have bulls run out of steam or will Nifty touch 18000 today? 5 things to know before opening bell

On the weekly futures & options expiry session Dalal Street struggled but closed with gains and continued its up-move. S&P BSE Sensex ended 37.87 points or 0.06% higher at 60,298 while the NSE Nifty 50 added 12.25 points or 0.07% to close at 17,956. The volatility index fell 1.85% on the day to settle at 17.35 levels while the Bank Nifty index closed nearly half a per cent higher. Ahead of the final trading session of the week, SGX Nifty was in the red, suggesting a flat to negative start, however, global cues were largely positive.

Global watch: On Wall Street, S&P 500 was the top gainer on Thursday, gaining 0.23% while NASDAQ jumped 0.21% and the Dow Jones gained 0.06%. Among Asian stock markets, Shanghai Composite was flat while Hang Seng was in the green along with Nikkei 225 and TOPIX. KOSPI and KOSDAQ closed with losses. 

What do the charts say: With marginal gains on Thursday, the Nifty 50 index formed a reasonable positive candle on the daily chart, that paced beside the long bull candle of previous session, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities. “Technically, this pattern indicates a sideways range movement in the market at the highs,” he added. 

Levels to watch out for: Traders have been advised to wait for crucial supports to get breached for taking any contra trades. “The immediate supports in Nifty are now placed around 17850 and 17770 and close below these would be signs of reversal. Until then, we continue with our advice for traders to trade with a stock-specific approach with reduced position size,” said Ruchit Jain, Lead Research, 5paisa.com. Meanwhile, Nagaraj Shetti believes a sustainable move above 17900-18000 levels in the short term is expected to open the next upside target of 18500-18600 levels in the coming week. He sees crucial support to be at 17760 levels.

Also Read: Govt reviews windfall gains tax, cuts cess on crude; hikes export duty on jet fuel, diesel

FII and DII trades: Foreign Institutional Investors pulled out money from domestic markets on Thursday after consecutive days of buying. FIIs sold stocks worth Rs 1,706 crore. Domestic Institutional Investors (DII) were, however, buyers as they pumped in Rs 470 crore.

Call and Put OI: For the August F&O series, Call Open Interest (OI) is the most at 18000 strike followed by 19000 strike. Put OI is most at 17000 strike and 17900.