Santa fails to turn up on Dalal Street

I couldn't have been more wrong last fortnight, as Santa played truant. I had expected the markets to soar, as the Nifty had rebounded from the neckline of the inverse Head & Shoulders pattern on December 13 and recorded its highest close since October 21.

- V K SHARMA

The markets took a sharp U-turn for the worse from December 16, continuing to slump each day and losing 1,231 points (4.97%) in the first week of the fortnight. Last week, it recouped 351 points intraday but ended with a gain of 226 points (0.96%). The Nifty at 23,813 is now below all its key averages, be it the 10, 20, 50, 100 or 200 days simple moving average.

There were only four trading sessions last week and all the trading took place in the shadow of the large candle that was made the previous week on December 20.

The first support is at 23,537, the low formed on December 20, followed by the next support at 23,263, the low formed on November 21. This marks the lowest point recorded during the ongoing correction, which began after the all-time high was reached on September 27.