Stock market today: The domestic benchmark indices, Nifty 50 and Sensex, opened higher on Monday, April 27, ending a recent decline, though disappointing quarterly results from conglomerate Reliance and Axis Bank, along with rising crude prices due to an Iran war crisis, capped the gains.
At 10:03 IST, the Nifty 50 rose by 0.73% to reach 24,076 . 60, while the BSE Sensex increased by 0.77% to hit 77,249.78.
In the previous three trading sessions, both benchmark indexes dropped by 2.7% each, as elevated crude prices stemming from the Iran war crisis and a bleak earnings outlook from software firms like Infosys and HCL Tech affected investor sentiment.
Brent crude was priced at around $106 per barrel following stalled peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Market Outlook by Dharmesh Shah, Vice President, ICICI Securities
Indian equity benchmarks snapped a three-weeks winning streak to close in the red, pressured by escalating Middle East tensions and surging crude oil prices. The Nifty 50 ended the week at 23,897, marking a 1.90% decline. Interestingly, broader markets displayed notable resilience; while mid-caps dipped a modest 0.8%, small-caps managed to remain flat. On the sectoral front, IT faced the heaviest selling pressure with a 10% slump, whereas Energy and Pharma emerged as the week’s outperformers.
Technical Outlook
The index opened the week on a positive note and witnessed profit booking around its long term 200-day EMA. The weekly price action resulted into bearish candle with long upper shadow, indicating selling pressure at elevated levels.
Index managed to hold its higher high-low structure for third-consecutive week. However, following a robust 11% rally, the market has entered a phase of healthy consolidation. Given that the weekly stochastic oscillator is currently in overbought territory (placed at 85), prolongation of ongoing consolidation cannot be ruled out in the upcoming truncated week.
Going ahead, we expect the index to oscillate within the broader range of 24,500-23,400 range while sailing through geopolitical volatility and reacts to the ongoing corporate earnings season.
The current consolidation would make market healthy, as it strengthens the market’s foundation for an eventual push toward the 24,800 mark (aligned with the 200-day EMA) in the coming weeks. Thereby, any decline from hereon should not be construed as negative instead capitalize it to accumulate high-quality stocks on dips backed by strong earnings as strong support is placed at 23,100, being 61.8% retracement of current up move (22,182-24,601) coincided with the gap aera (23,555-23,154).
Our constructive bias is further validated by following observations
- The formation of higher peak and trough on the weekly chart signifies rejuvenation of upward momentum.
- The current up move is backed by the improvement in the market breadth as the current reading of % stocks trading above 50- and 200-days SMA has jumped to 67% and 40% compared to last month reading of 15%, signaling broadening of rally that bodes well for durability of ongoing up move.
- We expect broader market to relatively outperform the large caps as the ratio chart of Nifty 500 vs Nifty 100 has resolved higher and at the cusp of breaking out of past two years consolidation. Such breakout would result into acceleration in Midcap and small caps outperformance going ahead.
- From a global market perspective, the S&P 500’s recent breach of the historic 7,000 level and Nikkei and Kospi’s fresh move towards all-time highs signal robust momentum. We expect the Indian markets to witness catch up activity as it has direct co-relation with the global peers.
Key Monitorable:
A. De-escalation of geopolitical conflict
B. US Fed Policy
C. IIP data
D. Further decline in Crude, US Dollar Index
Stocks To Buy This Week – Dharmesh Shah
Dharmesh Shah of ICICI Securities recommends buying Ltd, and Ltd.
Buy JSW Steel in the range of ₹1,240-1,266. He has JSW Steel share price target of ₹1,445 with a stop loss of ₹1,115.
Buy Power Grid in the range of ₹306-316. He has Power Grid share price target of ₹352 with a stop loss of ₹289.
Disclaimer: The Research Analyst or his relatives or I-Sec do not have actual/beneficial ownership of 1% or more securities of the subject company, at the end of 24/04/2026 or have no other financial interest and do not have any material conflict of interest.
The views and recommendations provided in this analysis are those of individual analysts or broking companies, not Mint. We strongly advise investors to consult with certified experts before making any investment decisions, as market conditions can change rapidly and individual circumstances may vary.