Indian equity markets recovered from intraday lows on Monday, with banking stocks leading the rebound and the Nifty Bank index moving into positive territory. The bounce came after the benchmark tested key support levels, suggesting that while the near-term bias remains positive, the market may continue to trade within a narrow range.
Commenting on the setup, Rajesh Bhosale from Angel One said, “Nifty left a bullish gap around 25,900 levels and today in the morning after a gap down opening these levels were tested. But from those levels we are seeing a strong bounce back.” He added that despite the recovery, “our bias remains positive, but somewhere we sense that index is trapped in a range,” highlighting that 25,900–25,700 remains a strong base, while “26,200 to 26,300 seems to be a stiff resistance.”
With the year-end approaching and festive sentiment beginning to build, attention has shifted to whether seasonal factors could support markets in the coming weeks. Bhosale pointed to improving technical signals in the broader market after recent pressure on midcap and smallcap stocks. He noted, “we saw a bullish hammer pattern both on the midcap and smallcap index and after that those levels has been supported,” which has led to renewed confidence. According to him, “from here we definitely have a bullish view and we expect broader market to perform well,” even as headline indices remain range-bound.
On stock-specific opportunities, Bhosale advocated a selective approach rather than aggressive buying. In the banking space, he said, “one of the counters from banking space we are liking it IDFC First Bank,” adding that the stock has broken out of its trading range. He recommended, “with a stop loss of 81, one can buy IDFC First Bank and in the near term we expect targets of around 88 levels.”
He also flagged emerging strength in FMCG stocks, noting that “Britannia is showing strong range breakout,” with “5850 should be kept as a stop loss and then near-term we expect targets of around 6350.”
As markets head into the final weeks of the year, experts believe a disciplined buy-on-dips strategy, combined with selective stock picking in sectors showing relative strength, could remain the preferred approach amid ongoing consolidation.