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Buy or sell stocks, 20 April 2026: Following positive global cues on de-escalation in the US-Iran war, the key benchmark indices of the Indian stock market ended higher for the fifth straight session. The Nifty 50 index gained 156 points and closed at 24,353. The BSE Sensex ended 504 points higher at 78,493. The Bank Nifty index ended 479 points higher at 56,565.

Sectorally, the trend remained largely positive, with most sectors ending in the green—led by FMCG, energy, and metals—while IT and pharma remained relatively muted. Broader markets continued to outperform, with mid-cap and small-cap indices advancing around 1.5% each, indicating sustained risk appetite.

The Gift Nifty index today opened at 24,500 and hit an intraday high of 24,503 within a few minutes of the Opening Bell. However, the index failed to sustain at higher levels and touched an intraday low of 24,408. By 6:50 AM, the index is trading at 24,460, up 40 points intraday.

Vaishali Parekh, Vice President — Technical Research at Prabhudas Lilladher, believes the Indian stock market bias is cautious. The Prabhudas Lilladher said the Nifty 50 index is hovering near the important hurdle of the 24,300 to 24,400 band, which the 50-stock index needs to break on a closing basis to strengthen bulls' conviction. She said the Indian stock market today may open flat to positive as the Gift Nifty live chart signals bulls outperforming bears.

Speaking on the outlook of the Nifty 50 index, Vaishali Parekh said the index has been sustaining the near-term support at the 24,100 zone near the important 50-EMA level, and once again witnessed a steady rise during the session and closed near the 24,350 zone with overall bias maintained with a cautiously positive approach as of now.

“The Nifty 50 index is hovering near the important hurdle of the 24,300-24,400 band, which is very crucial and would need a decisive breach above this zone to establish conviction and clarity for further upward move in the coming days. On the downside, as mentioned earlier, the near-term support would be positioned near the 23800 level while the next major support would be near 23,200 as per the gap theory,” said Parekh.

On the outlook of the Bank Nifty index, Parekh said the index has been gripped within a tight range for the past 3 sessions, with the resistance zone at the 56,800 level, and support sustained near the 56,000 level, near the important 50-EMA average level, which needs to be sustained in the coming days.

“The overall bias and sentiment are currently maintained with a cautious approach and would need a decisive breach above the 57000 zone to establish conviction, whereas on the downside, the index would need to sustain the 53,500-level, which is positioned as the important support zone to maintain the bias intact,” said Vaishali Parekh of Prabhudas Lilladher.

Regarding stocks to buy today, Vaishali Parekh recommended these three intraday stocks to buy or sell: Jio Financial Services, NALCO, and KFin Technologies.

1] Jio Financial Services: Buy at ₹243.85, Target ₹255, Stop Loss ₹238;

2] NALCO: Buy at ₹438.75, Target ₹460, Stop Loss ₹428; and

3] KFin Technologies: Buy at ₹976, Target ₹1025, Stop Loss ₹957.

Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, not Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.Asit Manohar has nearly two decades of experience in the mainstream media. In this period, he has served esteemed media organisations like NDTV Profit, The Economic Times, and Zee Business. He has been working at LiveMint Digital since April 2021. During these two decades of journey in mainstream media, Asit has mainly covered external affairs, markets and personal finance. However, his earliest beats include railways, SME, MSME, and politics (Congress beat). Some of his features on political, economic, and foreign policy are documented in the parliamentary records.

While pursuing his MA (Mass Communication, Session 2004-06), Asit began his media career as a stringer at All India Radio in Varanasi. At AIR Varanasi, Asit worked with the Gyanvani, Yuvvani and Vividh Bharti teams. After working for nearly one year at AIR Varanasi, he shifted to print journalism and started working as a stringer for the HT Media Ltd, Varanasi. At HT Media Ltd in Varanasi, he covered the BHU beat.

Asit has also worked with some brokerage houses. He has worked with Religare Broking and India Infoline, where he assisted the research team in developing and executing trade strategies for intraday cash, F&O, and commodities.

Asit is a Gold Medalist in MA (Mass Communication) from BHU, Varanasi. He did his BSc. (Hons) in Mathematics from Magadh University, Bodh Gaya. Asit was a National Talent Scholarship holder during his senior secondary studies (1988-91).

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