
Nifty seen moving rangebound amid sector rotation; cautious optimism advised
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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com .)
After a strong move in the week before this one, the Nifty spent the last five sessions largely consolidating in a very defined range.The markets traded with a weak underlying bias and lost ground gradually over the past few days; however, the drawdown remained quite measured and within the expected range. As the markets consolidated, the trading range got narrower.The Nifty moved in a 337-point range during the week. While the Index formed a near-similar high, it marked a much higher low. The volatility also retraced; the India VIX came off by 0.59% to 12.31. While showing no intention to trend higher, the headline Index closed with a net weekly loss of 176.80 points (-0.69%).The Nifty has created an intermediate resistance zone between 25600 and 25650. A trending move on the upside would happen only if the Nifty is able to take out this zone on the upside convincingly. Until that happens, we will see the Nifty continuing to consolidate with 25100 acting as support. This is the prior resistance level, which is expected to act as support in case of any corrective retracement. So long as the Nifty is inside the 25000-25650 zone, it is unlikely to develop any sustainable directional bias on either side.Friday was a trading holiday in the US. Because of this, we will not have any overnight cues to deal with on Monday. The Indian markets may see a stable and quiet start. The levels of 25650 and 25800 are likely to act as probable resistance points. Support levels come in at 25250 and 25000.The weekly MACD is bullish and remains above its signal line. The weekly RSI is 62.40; it stays neutral and does not show any divergence against the price. No major formation was noticed on the candles.The pattern analysis of the weekly chart shows that after breaking above the rising trendline resistance while moving past the 25000-25150 zone, the Nifty consolidated after trending higher for four days. Over the past week, it gave up a portion of its gains and consolidated at higher levels. In the process, it has dragged its support level higher to 25000. As long as the Index remains above this point, the breakout and the resumption of the upmove observed in the preceding week remain valid and intact.Overall, it is expected that the Nifty will remain within the 25000-25650 range over the coming week. The markets are unlikely to develop any directional bias unless they move past the 25650 level or violate the 25000 level. Sector rotation within the market is very much visible; it would be imperative to efficiently rotate sectors and stay invested in those that show improved relative strength and a promising technical setup. We are likely to see improved performance in the Auto, Energy, IT, and broader markets, among other sectors. It is also strongly recommended to protect profits here, where the stocks have run up hard. Any aggressive shorting should be avoided as long as the Nifty stays above the 25000 level. A cautiously positive approach is advised for the coming week.In our look at Relative Rotation Graphs®, we compared various sectors against the CNX500 (NIFTY 500 Index), representing over 95% of the free-float market cap of all the listed stocks.Relative Rotation Graphs (RRG) show that the Nifty PSU Bank Index and the Midcap 100 Index are the only two groups that are inside the leading quadrant. They are likely to outperform the broader markets relatively.The Nifty Infrastructure Index is experiencing an improvement in its relative momentum while it remains within the weakening quadrant. Additionally, the PSE, Nifty Bank, and the Financial Services Index are located within the weakening quadrant. While individual stock-specific performance may not be ruled out, the overall relative performance may take a backseat.The Commodities Index and the Services Sector Index have rolled inside the lagging quadrant. The Consumption, Pharma, and the FMCG Indices also continue to languish inside the lagging quadrant. The Metal Index is showing a sharp improvement in its relative momentum against the broader markets, while staying within the lagging quadrant.The IT, Energy, Media, Realty, and Auto Indices are inside the Improving quadrant. They continue to rotate firmly while improving their relative performance against the broader Nifty 500 Index.Important Note: RRG™ charts show the relative strength and momentum of a group of stocks. In the above Chart, they show relative performance against NIFTY500 Index (Broader Markets) and should not be used directly as buy or sell signals.Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA, is a Consulting Technical Analyst and founder of EquityResearch.asia and ChartWizard.ae and is based in Vadodara. He can be reached at milan.vaishnav@equityresearch.asia (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

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Business Standard
11 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Ball in Washington's court on India-US interim trade pact before July 9
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Indian Express
15 minutes ago
- Indian Express
With Manchester and Amsterdam services, IndiGo boards the long-haul flight to chase its ‘global airline' ambitions
After establishing dominance in Indian skies and building a dense short-haul international network over 18-plus years, the country's largest airline IndiGo has finally forayed into the long-haul segment, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the carrier's evolution. Early July, the airline started flying non-stop to Manchester and Amsterdam from Mumbai, a milestone in its ambition to become a global airline by 2030 with its 'internationalisation strategy' as a key cornerstone. The plan involves product development to serve specific markets, building a global network by growing mid- and long-haul operations and deepening codeshare partnerships with global airlines, and inducting long-range narrow-body and wide-body aircraft, and all that while maintaining cost leadership. IndiGo—for long seen as a classic low-cost carrier (LCC)—is shaping into what its chief executive Pieter Elbers likes to call a 'fit-for-purpose' airline—one with varied product offerings in line with the demands of specific market segments, instead of the typical budget airline. Over the past year, IndiGo launched a tailor-made business class product—IndiGo Stretch—on select domestic routes, and a loyalty programme. The airline felt that there were sizable market segments within India where these offerings would work well. And beyond that, these were also part of the groundwork for the carrier's log-haul operations. On its just-launched long-haul flights—currently using damp-leased Boeing 787-9 aircraft from Norse Atlantic—IndiGo has hot meals and in-flight entertainment included for all flyers. It is also offering the international version of its Stretch product complete with complimentary alcoholic drinks service, choice of three-course hot meals, some free amenities, and even lounge access. And this could very well be the broad template for IndiGo's long-haul operations. 'I don't think our product here is what one can label or classify as an LCC or a ULCC (ultra-low-cost carrier) product. We have hot meals and baggage included. So, it's a fit-for-purpose product and operation. For a nine-hour or 10-hour flight, we choose to have a product where food is included, instead of going through all the complexities of selling it on board. Does it mean that we have to do it all across the network, and for our five and six-hour flights? No, not at all. The fit-for-purpose for 10 hours looks different than that for four or five or six hours,' Elbers told The Indian Express after IndiGo's inaugural Mumbai-Manchester flight. 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As part of its 'internationalisation strategy', IndiGo plans to induct extra-long-range narrow-body Airbus A321 XLR aircraft starting this year and wide-body Airbus A350 planes from 2027 to operate medium- and long-range international flights. With the A350s, IndiGo should be in a position to launch non-stop services between India and North America. But Elbers—a former KLM CEO whose nearly three years at IndiGo have been focused on internationalisation—does not want to wait for its own long-range aircraft to fuel its international expansion. He and the airline are in a hurry to emerge as trailblazers on a number of long-haul routes. Therefore, IndiGo decided to enter the long-haul market using damp-leased planes. IndiGo's agreements with Norse Atlantic are for six Boeing 787-9 wide-body aircraft, one of which has been inducted and is operating the thrice weekly Mumbai-Manchester and Mumbai-Amsterdam services. The remaining five jets will be inducted over the course of this year and early next year. Over the past two to three years, IndiGo has expanded its international network by adding destinations in regions including Central Asia and the Caucasus, Southeast Asia, and Africa using its narrow-body fleet. Europe, where Air India is the only Indian carrier that operates direct flights, was expected to be the next frontier for IndiGo. According to Elbers, the fact that 65 per cent of the world's population lives within the range of IndiGo's existing narrow-body fleet underscores the potential of international expansion within this radius and beyond. In addition to Manchester and Amsterdam, IndiGo will be adding another eight international destinations in the current financial year (2025-26), growing its international network to 51 destinations. It intends to launch services to London, Copenhagen, Athens, Siem Reap, and four undisclosed Central Asian destinations. Barring Athens, the destinations in Europe and the UK are expected to be operated using the Norse Atlantic aircraft that IndiGo is taking on damp lease. Flights to Athens will be operated using the Airbus A321 XLR aircraft that IndiGo expects to start inducting in the current financial year. Siem Reap and the new destinations in Central Asia are likely to be operated using IndiGo's mainline fleet of Airbus A320 family jets. 'When it comes to building the international network the opportunity is enormous and we have indeed demonstrated that with Central Asia, and even some places in Southeast Asia. But the way I would like to see the network developed is we start to expand the range step by step. You will continue to see a lot of new routes in, let me call it the region, Southeast Asia, Gulf…So, we are expanding the density of the regional international network, and at the same time continuously expand the borders of that network and stretch the scope of where we fly,' Elbers said. IndiGo also sees its codeshare partnerships with other international carriers as a tool for network development as it would help the airline study the traffic flows and demand and plan its own long-haul network densification over the coming years. Specific to IndiGo's foray into Europe and the UK is the carrier's recently announced partnership with Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, and Air France-KLM, which will help it offer connections to other points in Europe and the US from points that IndiGo would be flying to in Europe. 'I think partnerships, until a few years back, were very much foreign airlines flying to India and then putting their passengers on our domestic network, benefiting from IndiGo's enormous domestic network. I think we are now making it much more reciprocal. So, for example, KLM has 30 destinations in India connecting on their flights from some major Indian cities. Now, we're going to have connections on KLM from Amsterdam. With Virgin (Atlantic), same story. We'll have connections with Virgin here in Manchester itself. So, it's going to be more reciprocal now, and it's surely going to help the further development of our network,' Elbers said. The reporter was in Manchester at IndiGo's invitation for the launch of the airline's Mumbai-Manchester non-stop service. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More


Time of India
22 minutes ago
- Time of India
WiFi at 40,000 Feet and Other Modern Tragedies
As the Business Head for The Times of India, I lead strategic initiatives and drive growth for one of the nation's most influential media organisations. My journalist friends believe I've crossed over to the proverbial dark side. Living on the edges of a dynamic newsroom, I dabble infrequently into these times that we live and believe in the spectatorial axiom – 'distance provides perspective'. LESS ... MORE Somewhere over Athens, and very much online. Many years ago — and I say this not with the smugness of an ageing tech evangelist, but the quiet trauma of someone who once had to borrow coins to make an STD call — incoming mobile calls in India were chargeable. Yes, you paid to be yelled at by your boss. The good old days, when guilt came with a per-minute tariff. We had pagers then. Remember those? They were like polite SMSes that said, 'You may now go find a landline, Sir.' We survived Y2K with more drama than disruption, bought calling cards that had expiry dates shorter than milk, and waited at STD booths hoping the person before us didn't have relatives in three continents. Now I'm aboard an Air India Dreamliner headed to Frankfurt — yes, the same airline whose flight recently met a tragic end in Ahmedabad — and somewhere over the Aegean, I make a horrifying discovery. No, not the lavatory. WiFi. Free. Functional. Fatefully fast. No announcement from the cockpit. No warning in the inflight magazine. Just a silent betrayal waiting in the network settings, like a ghost of productivity past. And suddenly, my phone — once nobly in airplane mode — begins to twitch like Frankenstein's monster reanimated. WhatsApp lights up with the precision of German railways. The client from hell has sent three PDFs, four voice notes, and a thumbs-up emoji so sinister it should come with a trigger warning. A cousin texts 'call when you land', the passive-aggressive Indian family version of 'We need to talk.' This, my friends, is what we call progress. Once upon a time, flight meant freedom. You were unreachable. Untouchable. A silhouette gliding above responsibility. Now, you're just a flying node in a 5G matrix, doomed to be responsive at 900 km/h. We used to vanish. Now we merely roam. I blame the Germans. Not for the WiFi — let's be clear, they do infrastructure too well to take the fall for this — but for the global myth that everything must be efficient. That we must respond, submit, update, even at 40,000 feet. Somewhere in Frankfurt, a man in a beige suit and Bluetooth earpiece probably once said, 'Connectivity is not optional.' And that was that. Air India, in its latest attempt to look modern while still serving frozen peas, embraced it. The same airline whose Dreamliner nearly clipped the edge of aviation news doom now makes sure your boss can see two blue ticks before your complimentary beverage arrives. I look out the window. Beneath me, Europe sprawls elegantly like a Thomas Cook brochure from 1997. Inside, I'm in a pressurised metal tube with too many WhatsApp groups and too little legroom. The only thing soaring freely is my anxiety. Would it really hurt to disconnect? To be unreachable — gloriously, unapologetically, untaggable — for six hours? Somewhere, a pager lies in a drawer, still holding its tiny breath. A landline waits patiently for a call that won't come. And me? I ache for silence at 40,000 feet — a luxury we gave up for 5 bars and a delivery report. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.