The market was off to a cheerful start on January 10 despite mixed global cues. Barring a small dip around mid day, the Nifty traded in the green throughout the session to gradual march towards the 18,000-mark. Some tail-end buying helped the Nifty push past the psychological mark to end the session over a percent higher.

The move got extended in the next couple of days as the benchmark index breezed through the key resistance zone of 18,100–18,200. Lack of participation from heavyweight spaces like banking and IT in the later half, however, saw the index consolidate in a small range to conclude end the week a tad above 18,250.

In the week gone by, the Nifty gained 2 percent to rally more than 1,800 points in a span of four weeks, which is remarkable. The market is now exhibiting behaviour that generally happens after a decent rally and if any major event is close by.

Since we are inching closer to the budget, key indices seem to be in a consolidation mode.

For the coming week, 18,350 is the level to watch. Once it is surpassed, there is no major level visible before 18,600. As of now, we do not expect a runaway move in the forthcoming week, hence, traders are advised to focus on individual stocks because almost each sector has started chipping in.

Apart from this, the broader market has started buzzing, which generally indicates a healthy rally. One needs to on potential movers to make decent gains. As far as supports go, 18,200 followed by 18,100 should be considered key levels and the sacrosanct base remains at 18,000.