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Technical charts indicate the market appears poised to sustain its upward momentum going ahead. Technical analysts predict Nifty is likely to advance towards 22,600, followed by 23,000, with robust support at 21,920. They suggest stocks such as Oracle Finance, HDFC Life, Marico, Pidilite, ICICI Bank, Maruti, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Larsen & Toubro, PNB, HAL, and Dixon could continue to attract significant buying interest.RUCHIT JAIN LEAD RESEARCH, 5PAISA.COMWhere is Nifty headed? Nifty ended last week at its highest point, indicating a continuation of the uptrend. FIIs started this series with short positions, but as the index marched higher, they covered some of their shorts and added longs. The RSI oscillator is positive and hints at a continuation of the momentum. The immediate support for Nifty is around the 22,200 mark, while positional support is around the 22,000-21,900. In the last couple of months, the 40-DEMA has acted as a sacrosanct support on declines, which is now around 21,920. Thus, till the above supports are intact, the broader trend remains positive. On the higher side, retracements of the recent correction indicate a possible target of around 22,720, followed by 23,000-23,100. What Should Investors Do? Traders are advised to continue trading with a positive bias until any reversal signs are seen. Midcap and smallcap indices are going through a time-wise corrective phase; one should be very selective in stock picking. Aarti Industries is trading at support, Pidilite has given a breakout above its resistance, and Marico has formed a bullish engulfing pattern at its support. Traders can look for buying opportunities here.SAMEET CHAVAN HEAD RESEARCH - TECHNICAL & DERIVATIVES, ANGEL ONEWhere is Nifty headed? The index has managed to hold the higher ground, and dips augured well for the bulls. Still, the range is narrowing as we head into uncharted territory, which might be a sign of caution. For now, 22,250-22,200 is likely to be seen as intermediate support, followed by the strong support of 22,150 and finally, the psychological mark of 22,000 from a broader term view. On the higher end, finding resistance is challenging in uncharted territory, though 22,600-22,650 could be seen as the next possible levels for Nifty in the upcoming week. What should investors do? Traders should now take stock-centric views. With Friday’s strong upsurge above Rs 613, HDFC Life is about to break out from the congestion zone. In addition, the formation of the ‘1-2-3’ pattern is visible on daily chart. We recommend buying for a target of Rs 660 with a stop loss of Rs 598. Oracle Financial Services has been maintaining its sturdy structure for a while now. On daily chart, yet another ‘bullish flag’ pattern seems to have unfolded after confirming a breakout from the key hurdle of Rs 8,150 on a closing basis. Buy for a target of Rs 8,750 with a stop loss at Rs 8,060.SUDEEP SHAH HEAD - TECHNICAL & DERIVATIVE RESEARCH, SBI SECURITIESWhere is Nifty headed? While the past week has witnessed Nifty marking a fresh all-time high above 22,500 levels, analysis of market breadth reveals that 72% of Nifty constituents are trading above their 20-day EMA levels, indicating robust momentum. Chart patterns suggest, 22,200-22,250 will act as a strong support going forward. Till spot Nifty holds 22,200, we may witness the continuation of the current momentum up to the level of 22,750- 22,850. However, if the index slips below 22,200, profit booking up to 21,980-21,860 could be witnessed. Weekly options data coupled with cooling off in India VIX from higher levels suggests possible consolidation with a positive bias for Nifty within the 22,200-22,850 range for the upcoming week. What should investors do? We expect large-cap names from select banks, pharma, power, capital goods, CPSE, metal, oil & gas as well as auto to outperform. Cool-off in the Dollar Index below 103 levels, along with US 10-year bond yields stabilising closer to 4.07%, is a positive from a macro perspective. Positive trade set-up is visible in select large-cap names such as ICICI Bank, Maruti, Cipla, Sun Pharma, and L&T. On the mid-cap front, stocks like Astral, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, PNB, HAL, Dixon, ICICI Pru, SRF, Shriram Finance could continue to witness strong buying interest.

Mumbai: Traders are gearing up for a short-term run-up in banking stocks. The Bank Nifty has risen for four consecutive weeks, outperforming the Nifty, while there has been an increase in outstanding positions in its derivatives contracts. Analysts said when the Bank Nifty performs better than the Nifty for four straight weeks and its futures & options contracts see a build-up in outstanding positions, it is seen as a bullish signal for the banking index.Since 2014, there have been only five such instances where Bank Nifty gained and outperformed Nifty for four consistent weeks.108377182"This is an extremely bullish occurrence for Bank Nifty, and traders must take note of it since Bank Nifty tends to rally after such instances," said Sanjay Moorjani, analyst, SAMCO Securities. On the heels of this trend, the average 1-month, 2-month, and 3-month returns for Bank Nifty have been 0.74%, 6.54%, and 7.98%, respectively, he said.The Bank Nifty index has gained nearly 8% to 48,161 zone in the last four weeks and is just 1.5% away from its lifetime high of 48,636. The index futures witnessed a fresh build-up of bullish bets with open interest jumping 81% to 46.62 lakh units. Implied volatility - traders' perception of near-term risks to a stock or an index - of Bank Nifty options declined from 19.71 to 15.76.Analysts said traders were writing Bank Nifty puts at lower strikes, which indicates they expect limited downside from the current levels. "Bank Nifty has surpassed its descending supply trend line and is maintaining a strong position above the 20-day exponential moving average (DEMA) on daily scale," said Chandan Taparia, analyst-derivatives, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. "Until Bank Nifty holds above 47,000 zones, we are expecting it to head towards a lifetime high of 48,636 and a fresh rally towards the 49,500 zones. On the downside, key support exists at 46,500 and 46,000 zones." Private sector lenders such as ICICI, Axis, Kotak and HDFC gained 3-4% in the past week.

For those wondering why private sector capex is not visible, here's an answer - it has reached a critical stage from where it is beginning to flow - said , CEO at Crisil, the biggest rating company that has the pulse of the Indian corporate world. Recent regulatory actions may slow the growth rate, but there is no trouble in sight, Mehta told Bhaskar Dutta and MC Govardhana Rangan in an interview. Edited excerpts:The latest GDP growth numbers surprised everyone. There are divergent views on it and we aren't seeing private capex yet. What are the corporates telling you?There are a few parts to this. One is the PLI (production-linked incentive scheme). It's very targeted - 15 sectors - and it's going to happen. Then there is conventional capex, the point that you are talking about. We are looking at capacity utilisation across multiple segments right now. What we are seeing is that in the top eight key segments, the capacity today is higher than the decadal average capacity utilisation that we have seen across those segments whether you take cement, steel, oil and gas, etc. Cement and steel plants are already expanding, refining is talking about green capex investment. Capex investment in these companies is at 13-14% versus 7-8% earlier. We are talking 13-14% growth in fixed assets. They have now started investing at a higher pace than earlier.The next question is about the sustainability of this growth. Can this be repeated?The resilience of the Indian economy is on the back of continued domestic demand and consumption. We are not seeing the impact that we would have expected with the interest rates moving up. Interest rates went up by 250 basis points and because of that, we will see some impact on consumption. We have moderated our next year's GDP (growth projection) to 6.8%. Global trade continues to see an impact because Europe still continues to be slow. The US is better. That will have its own impact on the Indian economy. Further, the fiscal discipline of the government means that its expenditure would be a little controlled. We are hoping for a normal monsoon, so the agriculture sector will be okay. At 6.8%, India would still be the fastest-growing major economy.If the government slows spending, the private sector has to step in. Which would be the top?We are going to see investments in three different areas. On PLI, the government has put a scheme - ₹3 lakh crore is expected. ₹1 lakh crore has already been done and another ₹2 lakh crore is likely to happen in the next two to three years. Most of it will happen in 2024 and 2025, that's where the impact will be because the scheme is being driven in that fashion. You also have emerging sectors - semiconductors, and renewables.What is beyond these headline projects...There's a huge opportunity for India at this point in time because there are a lot of changes happening from a bilateral trade perspective. There was a global supply chain network, which was set up 10-20 years back. People went to the lowest-cost locations and went for scale. That's how China and some of the other countries came up. I think at this point in time, with all the things which have happened from the geopolitical side, what's happening from the perspective of friendly relations between countries presents a huge opportunity for India.Even 20 years ago, there were opportunities being spoken of. What is the difference between the opportunities from then and now?The entire logistics of getting things into India if you're importing from wherever you are - for instance, in Indian ports, the turnaround time has actually become half versus 10 years back. Then you have road connectivity. The connectivity of highways right up to whatever locations you want. Port connectivity, rail connectivity and road connectivity - the investments which have been made in these three sectors - are showing you traction. The interconnectedness of these three - when you talk about creating logistics paths, you make sure that you're enabling that. Now, there are people who are ready to commit. That only happens when all of this is available.How has that helped?The other enabler is on the digital infrastructure side. Just look at FASTags, look at GST, which has removed all the toll roadblocks. The efficiency has gone up. Earlier, a truck in India could only do two trips from one part to the other at best in a month. Today, six trips are possible. That is the conversion because of the efficiency that has come in.What more needs to be done?Of course, we need to look at reforms, because ultimately the pace of economic growth will depend on what sort of reforms are being done. Whether there are labour reforms, whether there are land acquisition reforms. I think those will need to be looked at. Agricultural reforms - because agriculture still remains a large labour force. I would also look at the productivity side of things. We expect manufacturing as a percentage of GDP to grow because we are seeing a huge impetus there - it's 17.5% of GDP and likely to go to 20% as far as we think.Crisil estimates that ₹30-35 lakh crore of debt will be needed to be funded by the private sector alone for capex. How do you fund it with a shallow bond market?There are a couple of things happening. One is, that with global bond index inclusion happening, there will be space created for investment in the infrastructure sector. The other is that if you look at some of the parameters of the A-rated companies now with the AA companies in 2016-17, they are virtually similar. What this means is that A-rated companies today are where AA companies were six to seven years back. If you look at risk-adjusted returns for A-rated companies today, you are seeing a 50-basis-point higher return versus what you see in AA-rated companies. A-rated companies are improving in their fiscal discipline and that is a huge opportunity. Financial savings in mutual funds are largely going to equity. If you're able to demonstrate stability and good risk-adjusted returns, it will come back into debt. Global investors would want to invest in bonds in the infrastructure space.Banks are key for any growth funding. Given the scramble for deposits, how do you see things unfolding?We see an increase in the cost of deposits for banks because it's taking time for the costs to be passed down. We will see some impact on net interest margins by maybe 10-20 basis points. But the return on assets is healthy. Also, they are going to see some benefits on credit costs because of just the sheer efficiency. The impact might be offset by some of the benefits that banks may see on credit costs. Overall, we don't see too much of a challenge on profitability. There will be some impact which is likely to happen but not necessarily something which we are worried about - we don't think it will be material.With the RBI having curbed excessive growth in some lending segments, how will NBFCs fare?For NBFCs, we expect the growth to continue. It might be one or two percentage points lower than last year. Housing and vehicle demand is going to continue, The only place where you might see some impact is the unsecured retail credit where growth is already moderating. Let's be very clear, it is already moderating because that is what is the intent - to bring that growth down, to be mindful about that growth. This means that the NBFCs will have to tighten their assurance and their credit underwriting processes. They will need to make sure that the due diligence that they are applying to that portfolio is stronger. Their costs have anyway gone up because the risk provisioning has gone up from the banks' side. What we are seeing so far is that it might have a few basis points worth of an impact on the growth in the retail credit side, which is unsecured credit. But all the other segments are likely to continue to grow.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their love affair with Paris, lifting the French Open badminton crown for the second time with a dominating straight game win over Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the men's doubles final here on Sunday. The world No. 1 Indian pair had finished runners-up in the French Open in 2019 before winning the title in 2022. On Sunday, the Asian Games champions outwitted Lee and Yang 21-11 21-17 in 37 minutes to regain the Super 750 tournament title and also win their first crown of the season after reaching the summit clash for the third time in 2023. The Indian duo had finished second best at Malaysia Super 1000, India Super 750 this year, while signing off as runners-up at China Masters Super 750 as well last year. Satwik and Chirag proved third time lucky and their stellar show this week only reconfirmed chief coach Pullela Gopichand's assertion that the duo will be the favourites to win Paris Olympics gold.

Two election commissioners are likely to be appointed by March 15 to fill the vacancies created by the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey and the surprise resignation of Arun Goel, sources said on Sunday. Days before the poll panel is expected to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls, Goel resigned on Friday morning. His resignation was accepted by President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday and the Law Ministry issued a notification to announce it. This leaves Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar as the sole member of the poll authority. Pandey had demitted office on February 14 on attaining the age of 65 years. A search committee under Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and comprising the Home Secretary and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Secretary will first prepare two separate panels of five names each for the two posts. Later, a selection committee headed by the prime minister and comprising a Union minister and Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will then name two persons for appointment as election commissioners. The election commissioners will be appointed by the President. Sources said the selection committee could meet either on March 13 or 14 depending on the convenience of the members and the appointments are likely to be made by March 15. Before a new law on the appointment of CEC and ECs came into force recently, the election commissioners were appointed by the President on the government's recommendation and as per custom, the senior-most was appointed as CEC. Clause 2 of Article 324 of the Constitution states that the Election Commission shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners, if any, as the President may from time to time fix. Responding to questions on reasons behind Goel's resignation, the sources said he might have resigned due to personal reasons. They also rejected suggestions that there were differences between Goel and Kumar, saying records of internal communication, minutes and decisions show there was no dissent recorded by Goel. Goel, who tendered resignation on Friday morning, did not attend the crucial meeting between the EC and top home ministry and railway officials to firm up deployment and movement of central forces across India for poll duty. Goel was a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. He had joined the Election Commission in November 2022. His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year. Ashok Lavasa had resigned as election commissioner in August 2020. He had given dissent notes on various model code violations decisions taken by the EC in the last Lok Sabha polls. Originally, the commission had only a CEC. It currently consists of the CEC and two election commissioners. Two additional commissioners were first appointed on October 16, 1989, but they had a very short tenure till January 1, 1990. Later, on October 1, 1993, two additional election commissioners were appointed. The concept of a multi-member EC has been in operation since then, with decision made by a majority vote.