Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Nifty chart: a midweek technical update (May 16, 2018)

FIIs were net buyers of equity on Mon. May 14, but net sellers on the next two days. Their total net selling was worth Rs 5 Billion. DIIs were net buyers of equity on all three days this week. Their total net buying was worth Rs 14.5 Billion, as per provisional figures.

Inflation is inching up again. India's CPI inflation in Apr '18 moved up to 4.58% from 4.28% in Mar '18. Core inflation - comprising non-food and non-fuel components - hit a 34 months high of 6%.

India's WPI inflation touched a 4 months high of 3.18% in Apr '18 against 2.47% in Mar '18 due to higher fuel and vegetable prices. Any further rise may force RBI's hand in increasing interest rates.


The following comments were made in last week's update on the daily bar chart pattern of Nifty: "The interesting pattern to observe is that the index has failed to close above the trend line despite intra-day upward breaches on Mon. & Tue. (May 7 & 8). That may encourage bears to mount a stronger attack if the index tries to move up further."

The index did move up further to touch an intra-day high of 10929 on Tue. May 15, but closed more than 125 points lower on profit booking to form a 'shooting star' candlestick pattern that often marks an intermediate top.

Note that the index failed to close above the (purple) up trend line even for a single day after falling below it on May 4. Bears used the hung Karnataka assembly as an excuse to mount a strong attack today.

Bulls gave up ground reluctantly. The index slipped below the downward 'gap' (formed on Feb 5) intra-day, but recovered to close just above it - forming a 'long-legged doji' candlestick pattern that indicates indecision among bulls and bears.

Daily technical indicators have started correcting. MACD is just below its overbought zone and is about to cross below its signal line. RSI has started to fall after facing resistance from the edge of its overbought zone. Slow stochastic has dropped from its overbought zone.

Though Nifty is trading above its three rising EMAs in a bull market, some more correction can't be ruled out. The May 4 low of 10602 can be maintained as a stop-loss by those holding long positions.

Nifty's TTM P/E is at 26.66 - which is much higher than its long-term average. The breadth indicator NSE TRIN (not shown) is rising towards its oversold zone, and can limit index down side. 

The breach of a steep up trend line does not mean that the trend has changed. However, today's fall away from the trend line is a warning for bulls to close long positions. A fall below 10602 can lead to a deeper correction.

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