Trade setup for Apr 12: More downside on the cards for Nifty50?

The 50-scrip index is placed at its 10-day exponential moving average (EMA) around 17,650, a move below which could drag it to around 17,450, the 20-day level, he said.

One can expect the Nifty to continue to face some consolidation in a broad range in the short term with the stock-specific movements, said Ruchit Jain, Lead Research at 5paisa.com.

He is of the view the Nifty IT is in a corrective phase in near term.

Equities in other Asian markets were largely in the red as US Treasury yields spiked to three-year peaks ahead of data on inflation in the world's largest economy, which could foreshadow even more aggressive rate hikes from the Fed.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 percent at the last count.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 1 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.1 percent, South Korea's KOSPI 1.1 percent and Singapore's Straits Times 0.8 percent. China's Shanghai Composite eked out a gain of 0.1 percent.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.4 percent.

Overnight on Wall Street, the three main indices fell as investors started the holiday-shortened week in a risk-off mood. The S&P 500 fell 1.7 percent, the Dow Jones 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 2.2 percent.

HDFC Securities' Shetti believes the Nifty50's short-term trend remains weak with rangebound action. "There is no indication of any higher bottom formation. A slide below 17,600-17,500 levels could open more weakness in the near term. A choppy movement within high low of 17,800-17,600 is expected to continue for the short term," he said.

Independent technical analyst Manish Shah warns that the Nifty is at "a very crucial stage" and has to take out 17,850 in order to rally to assume a rally, and a break below 17,590 can take it all the way to 17,400.

Mohit Nigam, Head-PMS at Hem Securities, pointed out the following levels:

Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold Indian shares worth Rs 1,145.2

According to provisional exchange data, the maximum call open interest is accumulated at the strike price of 18,000, with 1.7 lakh contracts, and the next highest at 18,500, with 1.4 lakh contracts. On the other hand, the maximum put open interest is at 17,000, with almost 96,000 contracts, and the next highest at 17,500, with nearly 84,000 contracts.

This suggests immediate resistance at 18,000 followed by the next hurdle at 18,500, and immediate support at 17,500.