Week Ahead

In the week gone by, the Nifty jumped 385 points, or 2.4 percent, to 16,630, and the Sensex rallied 1,216 points, or 2.2 percent, to 55,550. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices gained more than 3 percent each.

The weekly rally was supported by metals, infra, IT, energy, FMCG, pharma and oil & gas stocks.

The Indian market took a break from four consecutive weeks of selling to close more than 2 percent higher in the week ended March 11. Hopes of de-escalation between Russia and Ukraine, falling crude prices, and the BJP's convincing win in four of the five state elections aided sentiment.

Given the significant events including FOMC meet, inflation numbers, and Ukraine-Russia crisis, volatility may rise, and investors are recommended to continue cherry-picking resilient stocks while avoiding vulnerable counters.

Technically Nifty formed a Bullish Engulfing pattern on the weekly charts, as the index gained more than 2 percent after four straight weeks of losses.

On the daily scale, the index formed a bullish candlestick on March 11 as the closing was higher than opening levels. The Nifty gained 0.2 percent for the day.

The index has to decisively surpass 16,750-16,800, the key hurdle, to climb to 17,000, while, 16,450-16,200 could be an important support.

The data indicates that the Nifty could remain in a broad range of 16,000-17,000 levels for coming sessions.