Stock market opens marginally higher amid tactical tug-of-war between bulls and bears

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 29 : The Indian stock market opened on a positive note on Wednesday, with key indices showing marginal gains at the start of the trading session.
The Sensex rose by 269.94 points, opening at 76,184.03, while the Nifty gained 70.55 points, beginning the day at 23,027.80.
Among the Nifty 50 stocks, 34 registered advances, 15 recorded declines, and 2 remained unchanged. The top gainers included Bajaj Auto, Cipla, Infosys, BEL, and Shriram Finance, while HDFC Life, JSW Steel, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, and Nestle India were the top losers.
Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities, provided technical insights on market movements. He noted that the Nifty's initial gains were met with elevated last-hour selling, indicating an ongoing battle between bullish and bearish market participants.
He said, "The Nifty's surge followed by elevated last-hour selling shows that both bulls and bears are fighting a tactical tug-of-war. The index traced a "doji" pattern with a long upper shadow that shows overhead supply is still a concern despite the selling we have seen so far, while candles that formed on the broader benchmarks - NSE 500, mid- and small-caps - had long lower shadows that shows how important holding the recent lows is for bulls."
Chinchalkar further outlined the key levels for the day, stating that the Nifty's trading range is expected to be between 22,786 and 23,154.
"The nifty's range for the day is 22786 - 23154 with a daily close above 23050 needed for a larger rebound in the near-term. On the downside, protecting 22900 will be pivotal based on options positioning for the weekly expiration coming due tomorrow," he added.
With market participants closely watching these technical indicators, the coming sessions are expected to provide further clarity on whether the bullish momentum can sustain or if bearish pressure will take over.