What is your trading view for Thursday, 28th October and do you see the support level of 18,000 holding for the Nifty?

On Wednesday, the Nifty fell 57 points to close at 18,210 levels. The surprise gainer was Asian Paints which saw a sharp bounce after it had touched a 5 month low after its second quarter results. A bout of value buying came into Asian Paints at lower levels and that was supported by buying into pharma stocks like Divi’s and Cipla.

The advance decline ratio or the A/D ratio was tilted towards sellers on Wednesday at 23:27 but the tilt was just about marginal There was some pressure coming from the financials and other stocks like Tata Motors that had rallied frenetically in the last few days and weeks. VIX continued to hover around the 17 levels, which is a source of comfort.

Foreign investors were net sellers on Wednesday to the tune of Rs.1,913 crore in the equity markets while domestic funds bought stocks worth Rs.473 crore. FPI selling has been almost unrelenting on larger macro and valuations risks. Dow was under pressure on Wednesday and Europe was weak overall. Pressure on the Indian markets is evident.

On Wednesday, we saw pressure on the numbers of Maruti with sales falling by almost 65%. That is likely to be the story of most auto stocks due to input cost spike and chip shortage. Keep an eye on the VIX as that will be the determining factor.