Indian indices trim gains as profit booking and IT selling weigh

The Sensex was up 569 points (0.76%) at 75,028.60 and the Nifty up 174 points (0.75%) at 23,227.00 around 1:16 pm, after trimming earlier gains. About 2,540 stocks advanced while 1,422 fell, and 178 were unchanged.

Analysts said profit booking after three consecutive days of rises contributed to the pullback, with the Sensex falling roughly 500 points from its intraday high and the Nifty slipping below the 23,250 level. Reliance Industries, up more than 7%, and Coal India, up nearly 5% after reporting a 19% year-on-year increase in provisional coal production, helped lift the broader market, while Infosys and ICICI Bank led the declines.

The IT sector also saw selling pressure, offsetting gains from the previous two sessions. Small-cap and mid-cap indices each rose about 1%, but the Nifty Media index fell nearly 1%, making it the lagging sector.

Technical analysts noted that the Nifty needs to stay above 23,350 for a sustained bullish trend. Hemang Gor, senior research analyst at Axis Direct, said the index’s bias remains cautiously positive, with resistance around 23,175 and support near 22,600. Shrikant Chouhan of Kotak Neo warned that a break below the 20-day simple moving average near 22,600 could expose the uptrend to weakness. Hitesh Tailor of Choice Broking highlighted immediate resistance at 23,200 and support at 22,850, suggesting traders may adopt a selective buy-on-dip approach while monitoring these levels.