Investors Cautious Ahead Of US Fed Decision

Mumbai: Investors turned cautious ahead of the US Fed policy rate meeting later in the day, as domestic benchmark indices faltered in late trades after scaling fresh highs in early trades due to heavy profit-taking in technology stocks.

“Barring banking & financial stocks, other sectoral stocks eased as several of them had rallied sharply in recent weeks,” says Prashanth Tapse, senior V-P (research), Mehta Equities.

Vaibhav Vidwani, research analyst, Bonanza Portfolio, added: “Sensex was trading within narrow ran on Wednesday. Nifty closed above 25,300, showing marginal decline ahead of the crucial US Federal Reserve meeting, where Jerome Powell is anticipated to begin a cycle of rate cuts, Dalal Street is adopting a cautious approach. Similar to how the Fed declined in interest rates, there is a good chance that the RBI will follow suit, which has given the banking industry hope. For this reason, Bank Nifty closed the day higher.”

STOCK PICKS

Nestle India | Buy: Rs2,597 | SL: Rs2,550 | Target: Rs2,700-2,750

Nestle India is showing strong momentum, with the stock currently positioned near a key support level. A rebound from this level is expected to push the price higher in line with its recent uptrend. The company’s consistent performance and strong fundamentals provide additional confidence for this trade. Traders should maintain a strict stop loss to manage downside risk. A breach of this stop loss could indicate further weakness, so caution is advised.

ICICI Lombard | Buy: Rs2,140 | SL: 2,075 | Target: Rs2,250-2,300

ICICI Lombard is displaying a bullish setup, offering a good buying opportunity. The stock has shown resilience and is likely to test its next resistance levels, supported by positive market sentiment and improving technical indicators. Investors should maintain a stop lossto protect against any potential downside. A close watch on price action is necessary, especially if the stock moves towards its target range.

(Source: Riyank Arora, technical analyst at Mehta Equities)

CMP (Current Market Price); SL (Stop Loss)/All prices in Rs