Index trend and stocks in action on March 17, 2020

The price action of Nifty over the last couple of trading sessions is a good illustration of something that Doug Kass, an investment expert and author, says so often, that the market has no memory of day-to-day. As after a historic bounce back from the lower levels and closing nearly four per cent up, Nifty continued its downward momentum on Monday and recorded another day of historic fall. Nifty tanked 7.61 per cent to end at 9,197 level.

The price action of the day formed a long bear candle. This candle can be termed as an inside candle as the price traded within a high to low range of the prior bar. Going ahead, Nifty has a crucial support in the band of 8,700-9,000 as in 2015 and 2016, we have seen that Nifty resisting at this around 9,000 mark and once the price breaks above the resistance, it becomes an area of support. Further, 61.8 per cent retracement of rise from the low of 2016, to an all-time high of 2020, falls in this region. As long as this support zone is protected, a possibility of pullback rally is likely on the cards. However, a failure to hold this support is likely to result in the further fall. On the upside, the level of 9,500 is likely to act as a stiff resistance.

Overall, the situation still appears to be tricky and bulls have to pin their hopes on 8,700-9,000 levels for the reversal. If it fails, it could result into misery!

Maruti Suzuki India: The automobile company introduces Eeco BS6 S-CNG.

Grasim: Competition Commission of India (CCI) has passed an order under Section 4 of Competition Act 2002 dated March 16, 2020 imposing a penalty of Rs 301.61 crore on Grasim Industries Limited in respect to its domestic man-made fibre turnover. While the company is yet to receive the order of CCI, it believes that on merits, it has sufficient grounds for an appeal.

KEC International: The company has completed the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding of its step-down subsidiary KEC International (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd from KEC Global Mauritius, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

IOC: IOC said that it has issued 29,950 unsecured, rated, taxable, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (series - XVI) of Rs 10,00,000, each aggregating to Rs 2,995 crore on private placement basis on March 6, 2020 to meet its capex requirements.