Gift Nifty, Chinese stocks point to a muted open for Nifty and Sensex on Wednesday
Source Fxstreet
- India’s Nifty and Sensex set for a subdued open after closing in the green for the sixth straight day on Tuesday.
- Nifty refreshed an all-time high above 22,200, Sensex settled above 73,000.
- Nifty and Sensex await the Fed and RBI Minutes for fresh trading impulse.
The Sensex 30 and Nifty 50, India’s key benchmark indices, are bracing for a subdued start to Wednesday, having rebounded on Tuesday.
Small losses in the Gift Nifty index and mixed Chinese stocks indicate a flattish to lower open for the Indian indices. Nifty and Sensex extended the bullish momentum on Tuesday, in the run-up to te release of the Minutes of the US Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy meetings.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 ended 0.34% higher on the day at 22,196.95 while the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex 30 finished at 73,057.40, up 0.48%.
The US stock markets settled lower on Tuesday, as traders returned from the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday.
Stock market news
- India’s Nifty and Sensex regained upside traction, helped by a rally in private bank stocks and utility sector stocks while ignoring a sell-off in the auto and technology stocks.
- Power Grid Corp, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank and NTPC were among the major gainers on the Nifty on Tuesday while losers included Coal India, HeroMoto Corp, Bajaj Auto, TCS and Eicher Motors.
- Among the corporate news, Coal India shares fell 5% after fall in e-auction premium.
- Shares of Whirlpool of India declined after the report of promoter off-loading 24% stake.
- Vibhor Steel Tubes debuted on bourses on February 20.
- On Monday, Bajaj Auto announced February 29 as the record date for a proposed buyback plan amounting to Rs 4,000 crore, at Rs 10,000 per share.
- Shares of Paisalo Digital rallied 15% to hit a record high of Rs 164 on Monday, surging 63% in the past month on promoter buying and strong December quarter (Q3FY24) earnings.
- Novartis India share price surges nearly 11% to hit a 52-week high as Novartis AG announces sale plans for the company.
- People’s Bank of China (PBoC) cut the five-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) by a record 25 bps from 4.20% to 3.95%. The PBOC rate cut failed to excite Asian traders.
- India’s trade data for January showed Thursday a shrinking Trade Deficit of $17.49 billion.
- US Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data came in hotter-than-expected and helped push back the market’s expectations of a Fed rate cut from March to June. Markets are currently pricing a 77% chance of a cut in June, the CME Group’s Fed Watch Tool shows.
- Attention now turns toward the Minutes of the Fed January meeting and American tech major Nvidia Earnings report due on Wednesday, as the Indian economic calendar remains devoid of any top-tier data release until Thursday’s RBI Minutes.
Sensex FAQs
What is the Sensex?
The Sensex is a name for one of India’s most closely monitored stock indexes. The term was coined in the 1980s by analyst Deepak Mohoni by mashing the words sensitive and index together. The index plots a weighted average of the share price of 30 of the most established stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Each corporation's weighting is based on its “free-float capitalization”, or the value of all its shares readily available for trading.
What factors drive the Sensex?
Given it is a composite, the value of the Sensex is first and foremost dependent on the performance of its constituent companies as revealed in their quarterly and annual results. Government policies are another factor. In 2016 the government decided to phase out high value currency notes, for example, and certain companies saw their share price fall as a result. When the government decided to cut corporation tax in 2019, meanwhile, the Sensex gained a boost. Other factors include the level of interest rates set by the Reserve Bank of India, since that dictates the cost of borrowing, climate change, pandemics and natural disasters
What are the key milestones for the Sensex?
The Sensex started life on April 1 1979 at a base level of 100. It reached its highest recorded level so far, at 73,328, on Monday, January 15, 2024 (this is being written in Feb 2024). The Index closed above the 10,000 mark for the first time on February 7, 2006. On March 13, 2014 the Sensex closed higher than Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index to become the major Asian stock index with the highest value. The index’s biggest gain in a single day occurred on April 7, 2020, when it rose 2,476 points; its deepest single-day loss occurred on January 21, 2008, when it plunged 1,408 points due the US subprime crisis.
What major corporations are in the Sensex?
Major companies within the Sensex include Reliance Industries Ltd, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ITC Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies, Infosys, State Bank of India, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra.
Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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Bitcoin Slides 5% as Sellers Lean In — Can BTC Reclaim $88,000?Bitcoin has dropped back below $88,000 after rolling over from $90,500, with price still trading under the 100-hour Simple Moving Average.
The sell-off found a floor at $85,151, and BTC is now consolidating near that base, but rebounds are facing pressure from a bearish trend line around $89,000.
Bulls need to retake $88,000–$89,000 to ease downside risk; failure to do so keeps $85,500–$85,000 and then $83,500 in play, with $80,000 as the deeper “line in the sand.”
Bitcoin (BTC) is back in damage-control mode after a sharp pullback wiped out recent gains. The price failed to reclaim the $90,000–$90,500 band, rolled over, and slid through $88,500 before briefly dipping under $87,000. Buyers did show up around $85,000, but the rebound so far looks more like stabilization than a clear trend reversal.
Bitcoin dips hard, finds a bid near $85,000（h3）
BTC’s latest move lower began when it couldn’t build follow-through above $90,000 and $90,500. Once that upside stalled, sellers took control and pushed price down through $88,500.
The slide accelerated enough to spike below $87,000, but the market didn’t free-fall. Bulls defended the $85,000 zone, printing a low at $85,151. Since then, Bitcoin has been consolidating below the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the drop from the $93,560 swing high to the $85,151 low — a clue that the bounce is still shallow and that sellers haven’t fully backed off yet.
Structurally, BTC is still on the back foot:
It’s trading below $88,000, and
It remains below the 100-hour Simple Moving Average, keeping short-term trend pressure pointed downward.
Resistance is layered, and $89,000 is the problem area（h3）
If bulls try to turn this into a recovery, they’ll have to climb through multiple ceilings in quick succession.
First, BTC faces resistance around $87,150, followed by a more meaningful barrier near $87,500. From there, the market’s attention snaps back to $88,000 — the level BTC just lost and now needs to reclaim.
A close back above $88,000 would improve the tone, but it doesn’t solve the bigger issue: there’s a bearish trend line on the hourly BTC/USD chart (Kraken feed) with resistance near $89,000, which also lines up with the next technical hurdle.
If BTC can push through $89,000 and hold, the rebound could extend toward $90,000, with follow-through targets at $91,000 and $91,500. But until price clears that $88,000–$89,000 zone, rallies are at risk of being sold rather than chased.
If BTC fails to reclaim resistance, the downside path is clear（h3）
The near-term bear case is simple: if Bitcoin can’t climb back above the $87,000 area and keep traction, sellers may attempt another leg lower.
Support levels line up like this:
Immediate support: $85,500
First major support: $85,000
Next support: $83,500
Then $82,500 in the near term
Below that, the major “don’t break this” level is still $80,000. If BTC slips under $80,000, the risk of acceleration to the downside increases significantly — not because it’s magic, but because it’s the kind of psychological and structural level that tends to trigger forced de-risking.
Indicators: momentum still leans bearish（h3）
The intraday indicators aren’t offering much comfort yet:
Hourly MACD is losing pace in the bearish zone.
Hourly RSI remains below 50, suggesting sellers still have the upper hand on short timeframes.
So while the $85,000 defense held for now, the market hasn’t flipped bullish — it’s just stopped bleeding.
Bitcoin has dropped back below $88,000 after rolling over from $90,500, with price still trading under the 100-hour Simple Moving Average.
The sell-off found a floor at $85,151, and BTC is now consolidating near that base, but rebounds are facing pressure from a bearish trend line around $89,000.
Bulls need to retake $88,000–$89,000 to ease downside risk; failure to do so keeps $85,500–$85,000 and then $83,500 in play, with $80,000 as the deeper “line in the sand.”
Bitcoin (BTC) is back in damage-control mode after a sharp pullback wiped out recent gains. The price failed to reclaim the $90,000–$90,500 band, rolled over, and slid through $88,500 before briefly dipping under $87,000. Buyers did show up around $85,000, but the rebound so far looks more like stabilization than a clear trend reversal.
Bitcoin dips hard, finds a bid near $85,000（h3）
BTC’s latest move lower began when it couldn’t build follow-through above $90,000 and $90,500. Once that upside stalled, sellers took control and pushed price down through $88,500.
The slide accelerated enough to spike below $87,000, but the market didn’t free-fall. Bulls defended the $85,000 zone, printing a low at $85,151. Since then, Bitcoin has been consolidating below the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the drop from the $93,560 swing high to the $85,151 low — a clue that the bounce is still shallow and that sellers haven’t fully backed off yet.
Structurally, BTC is still on the back foot:
It’s trading below $88,000, and
It remains below the 100-hour Simple Moving Average, keeping short-term trend pressure pointed downward.
Resistance is layered, and $89,000 is the problem area（h3）
If bulls try to turn this into a recovery, they’ll have to climb through multiple ceilings in quick succession.
First, BTC faces resistance around $87,150, followed by a more meaningful barrier near $87,500. From there, the market’s attention snaps back to $88,000 — the level BTC just lost and now needs to reclaim.
A close back above $88,000 would improve the tone, but it doesn’t solve the bigger issue: there’s a bearish trend line on the hourly BTC/USD chart (Kraken feed) with resistance near $89,000, which also lines up with the next technical hurdle.
If BTC can push through $89,000 and hold, the rebound could extend toward $90,000, with follow-through targets at $91,000 and $91,500. But until price clears that $88,000–$89,000 zone, rallies are at risk of being sold rather than chased.
If BTC fails to reclaim resistance, the downside path is clear（h3）
The near-term bear case is simple: if Bitcoin can’t climb back above the $87,000 area and keep traction, sellers may attempt another leg lower.
Support levels line up like this:
Immediate support: $85,500
First major support: $85,000
Next support: $83,500
Then $82,500 in the near term
Below that, the major “don’t break this” level is still $80,000. If BTC slips under $80,000, the risk of acceleration to the downside increases significantly — not because it’s magic, but because it’s the kind of psychological and structural level that tends to trigger forced de-risking.
Indicators: momentum still leans bearish（h3）
The intraday indicators aren’t offering much comfort yet:
Hourly MACD is losing pace in the bearish zone.
Hourly RSI remains below 50, suggesting sellers still have the upper hand on short timeframes.
So while the $85,000 defense held for now, the market hasn’t flipped bullish — it’s just stopped bleeding.
The Senate Banking Committee has postponed cryptocurrency market structure hearings until 2026, citing ongoing bipartisan negotiations.
