Mumbai, Sep 21 (IANS): Nifty fell on Thursday with a second consecutive downgap displaying the amount of bearish sentiments prevailing in the market.

Nifty could now remain in the 19,645-19,865 band for the near term. Intra-day rises in the near term could face profit taking/sell on rise, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

Falling for the third consecutive session owing to negative global cues, Nifty closed at 19,742.4 on Thursday, down 0.80 per cent or 159.1 points.

Volumes on the NSE were surprisingly on the lower side on such a trending day. Broad market indices fell marginally more than the Nifty, even as the advance decline ratio fell further to 0.46:1.

Global equities sank on Thursday while the dollar advanced after the US Federal Reserve indicated it could hike interest rates again this year and keep them elevated longer than feared as it struggles to bring inflation under control, Jasani said.

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, said the next important supports to be watched around 19,550 levels, which is weekly 10 period EMA. Minor upside bounce is be expected from the supports, but the said bounce could be a sell on rise opportunity.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said Nifty extended its decline as the benchmark index slipped towards 19,700.

Weakness appears evident with a bearish crossover in the Relative Strength Index (RSI), Shetti said.

Selling on rallies remains the favoured strategy as long as it stays below 20,000. On the downside, support is situated in the range of 19,700/19,630.