NIFTY ends flat on 25 February; forms DOJI on Candlestick pattern

The Nifty ended the trading session on Thursday, 25th February, flat with short covering on the last day of expiry of derivative contracts for February series coming to the rescue despite weak cues from global markets on resurfacing Greece crisis. Expectations from the Budget, to be tabled tomorrow morning by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, also kept the investors on the edge.

Today is the fourth consecutive day when the Nifty traded in a narrow range, even as volumes surged up relatively higher on short covering and rollover of derivatives for the next series.

Nifty opened the trading session flat at 4,859, following previous close at 4858.60, and ended at 4,859.75, a net gain of 1.15 from previous close. During the session, the index touched a high of 4,880.15 and a low of 4,835.60, thus keeping the total range for the day at 44.55 points.

In technical chart analysis, NIFTY formed a Doji, an important pattern that indicates the tug-of-war between the buyers and sellers in the market and the indecision prevailing in the market, ahead of the BUDGET to be presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow morning.

The DOJI assumes additional significance as the market has been trading in a very narrow range for the past four days with no clear victory to either the bulls or the bears. The global markets also are in jittery shape, caught between Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony and the resurfaced debt crisis in Greece.

The coincidence of the third anniversary on February 27, when, three years ago, the global markets started their meltdown, also assumes significance, as global markets are once again at an inflection point.

A cursory look on the moving averages - very short term- does not paint a rosy picture either, making it all the more tense than never before.

Nifty closed the session at 4,859.75. The 5-day simple moving average is at 4,857.86, and the 10-day simple moving average is 4,857.56, just 0.30 points lower than the shorter time average. At the time of posting this blog at 7.00 p.m. on Thursday, the Dow Futures indicate a lower open in the US ahead of Ben Bernanke's testimony on economy. The indications are not rosy and Indian market braces for a rough ride on Budget Day - February 26, 2010.