Marketbuzz Podcast with Hormaz Fatakia: Nifty at precarious levels amidst earnings heavy session Welcome to CNBC-TV18’s Marketbuzz Podcast, here are top developments ahead of the trading session of October 18 -Until the start of this week, there was a struggle for the Nifty to cross the upper end of this 500-point range of 24,700 - 25,250 that it found itself in. As the week draws to a close on Friday, the Nifty bulls are now struggling to defend the lower end of this range, having closed at the lows it had made on September 9. -The Nifty fell for the third day in a row during its weekly options expiry on Thursday and has now declined in four out of the last five trading sessions. With Thursday's drop, the October 7 low of 24,694 now comes into the picture again and defending that will be the first task for the bulls when the markets open on Friday. - The IT run-up will be tested on Friday after Infosys' results, which did not have any positive surprises either. Besides Infosys, shares of Wipro, LTIMindtree, Polycab, Tata Chemicals and others will also be reacting to their quarterly results that were reported after market hours on Thursday. -Foreign institutions were heavy sellers in the cash market on Thursday and their selling intensity also picked up after tapering off for a few sessions. -Asian equities rose, aided by sharp gains in the shares of AI chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Treasuries steadied after heavy selling on Thursday, when new signs of vigor in the US economy led traders to trim expectations for rate cuts.Shares in Japan climbed, helped along by a weaker yen. Those in China fluctuated while stocks in Australia fell. TSMC jumped as much as 6.3% in opening trade, following a sharp rally Thursday for its US-listed shares driven by strong earnings and an upward revision of its 2024 revenue target. -Stocks to watch: Infosys, Wipro, Axis Bank, LTIMindtree, Polycab, Tata Chemicals, Zomato, Indraprastha Gas -GIFT Nifty was trading at discount of nearly 100 pts from Nifty Futures Thursday close, indicating a gap-down start for the Indian market. Tune in to Marketbuzz Podcast for more cues