The Nifty 50 and Sensex ended up slightly on Thursday after paring most of their gains seen during the open as trading remained lacklustre in a holiday-truncated week.

Market movements were seen as “dull” and “lacklustre” by analysts, despite Thursday being the monthly contract expiry day for derivatives. Stocks were seen mixed Thursday with the metal and realty sectors languishing among the sectoral indices, and the auto and energy sectors leading the gains.

At close, the Nifty 50 index was at 23,750, up 23 points, and the Sensex was flat at 78,472 points.

The Nifty has fallen 10% in the last three series, marking its biggest drop since June 2022. It also continues to face resistance around the 200-day moving average of 23,840.

“From the last two or three days, we have seen that the Nifty has not been able to breach the 23700-23870 range. For the next three months, the benchmark indices may witness further pressure, with the Nifty 50 dropping to 22700-22800 levels,” Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of technical research, Religare Broking, told Cogencis Information. Mishra expects the Nifty to take support at 23550 points and to face resistance between 23870 points and 24000 points.