Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty closed lower due to profit booking and heavyweights like ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries facing selling pressure, resulting in losses for many private banks. The PSU banks, however, saw the highest sectoral gains. Looking ahead, there may be more volatility as the Nifty has been witnessing significant swings in both directions for the past three trading sessions. In other global markets, European shares fell and the US was closed for Juneteenth on 19 June.
Indian equity markets saw gains on Friday, with the Nifty rising by 0.74% to end above the 18,800 level. Mid- and small-caps outperformed the headline indices, while the Nifty Mid-cap index hit an all-time high. The bullish market sentiment was due to hopes of an extended pause in rate changes by the Fed, coupled with an increase in retail sales and a decline in import prices. Technically, the Nifty formed a long bull candle, indicating a positive trend. Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed bullish trades on the likes of BHEL and HDFC while signals of weakness were seen on IOC and Sobha among others.