NIFTY EXTENDS CONSOLIDATION; 7600-7800 C0NTINUE TO BE LEVELS TO EYE

NIFTY EXTENDS CONSOLIDATION; 7600-7800 C0NTINUE TO BE LEVELS TO EYE

WORLD MARKETS                             

US indices ended little changed after recovering from session lows on Thursday before closing for a long weekend as oil prices recovered from session lows and the U.S. dollar index gave back some gains.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said the Fed's next interest rate hike "may not be far off," provided the economy evolves as expected.

US crude settled down 33 cents or 0.8% at $39.46 a barrel. U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday said that stockpiles had risen by 9.4 million barrels in the previous week, three times more than the. On the other hand, the weekly oil rig count, released Thursday due to the Good Friday holiday, showed a drop of 15 oil rigs.

Weekly jobless claims came in at 265,000. February durable goods orders declined 2.8%. The Markit flash U.S. services PMI was 51.0 in March, up from 49.7 in February.

European markets, weighed down by fresh concerns over U.S. interest rate hikes and another day of losses in commodity markets, ended with cuts of 1.5%-2.1%.

For the week, Dow and Nasdaq lost half a percent and S & P 500 fell 0.7%, breaking five-week winning streak. European markets saw cuts ranging from 0.4%-2.3% with CAC leading on the way down. Gold fell 2.6% for its worst week since Nov. 6. Nymex crude fell 5% for its first weekly loss since mid-February.

AT HOME

Wednesday was yet another day of consolidation as benchmark indices, after falling about half a percent in the first half, recouped all the losses in later half to end little changed before closing for long weekend. Sensex settled at 25338, up 7 points while Nifty rose2 points to finish at 7717. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices gained 0.2% each. BSE Metal and Telecom indices climbed 1.7% and 1.2% respectively, becoming top gainers among the sectoral indices while Energy and Oil & Gas indices were the top losers, down 1.1% each.

FIIs net bought stocks and index futures worth Rs 977 cr and 740 cr respectively but net sold stock futures worth Rs 1082 cr. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1023 cr.

Rupee appreciated 7 paise to end at 66.64/$.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty gained 1.5% each, extending the winning streak to fourth straight week.

Accenture reported better-than-expected Q2 revenue growth of 12% yoy. The company also raised full year revenue growth guidance from 6-9% to 8-10%.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Asian markets are trading with gains of upto 0.7%. SGX Nifty is trading around 7700, which is down about 35 points from Wednesday's close of Nifty future.

Readers would recall that ever since Nifty took out 7540-7600 hurdle, we have been working with the target of 34-week moving average, which is currently placed around 7790.

That continues to be the upside target to eye.

7600, the erstwhile resistance, continues to be immediate support to eye, with the stop loss of which trading longs should be held on to.