Nifty's relief rally could extend to 22,900, but it may not last

The recent rebound in India's stock market could stretch by 1.4% in the short term, said market experts, although they warned about it being a mere bounce within a larger downtrend as foreign investors remain significantly bearish in the domestic cash and derivatives segment.

- Ram Sahgal

On Thursday, stock market bulls kept India's benchmark indexes up for a second straight day following 10 straight sessions of battering. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) closed some of their short index futures positions the past two sessions, driving up the market.

While the Nifty 50 gained 0.93% to end Thursday at 22,544.70 points, options data show the index could move in a range of 22,233-22,867 over the next few days, with a bias to the top end of the range.

"It's better to wait and watch, adopt a bottom-up stock-specific approach, and deploy funds gradually as making money this year won't be that easy," said R. Venkataraman, chairman of broking firm IIFL Securities.

An analysis of NSE data showed that individual investor ownership of the NSE-listed universe by market cap, directly and through mutual funds, surpassed that of FPIs for the first time in 18 years during the December quarter—18.2% to FPIs' 17.4% share.