10410 IS NEXT SUPPORT; 10535 IMMEDIATE HURDLE

10410 IS NEXT SUPPORT; 10535 IMMEDIATE HURDLE

WORLD MARKETS

US indices fell 0.8%-1.5% on the back of steep last hour sell-off.

Oil fell after data reflected an increase in U.S. stockpiles. WTI fell 2.2% to $61.64 and Brent slipped 2.7% to $64.73.

Dollar index rose about a a third of a percent to 90.65, a five-week high.

Earlier, China's official manufacturing PMI missed expectations.

European markets fell 0.4%-0.7% with basic resources stocks falling the most.

For the month, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower by 4.3%, 3.9% and 1.9% respectively. The Dow and S&P 500 snapped 10-month winning streaks, their longest since 1959. The Nasdaq posted a monthly loss for the first time in eight months. The Shanghai composite and Hang Seng Index were down 6.4% and 6.2%, respectively. That was their worst month in more than two years.

AT HOME

Benchmark indices ended lower by half a percent after a choppy session. Sensex settled at 34184, down 162 points while Nifty lost 61 points to finish at 10492. BSE mid-cap index fell 0.2% while small-cap index gained 0.2%. BSE Metal index and Bankex tumbled 1.2% and 1% respectively to become top losers among sectoral indices while IT and Teck indices were the top gainers, up 0.8% and 0.6% respectively.

FIIs net sold stocks and index futures worth Rs 1751 cr and 353 cr respectively but net bought stock futures worth Rs 363 cr. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1597 cr.

Rupee depreciated 28 paise to end at three-month low of 65.18/$.

For the month, Senex and Nifty fell 5% and 4.8%, marking the biggest monthly fall in 2-years.

Indian economy grew at a 15-month high of 7.2% in October-December quarter, beating markets expected figure of around 6.8% on the back of strong performance from agriculture, manufacturing and construction. Figure for second quarter was revised from 6.3% to 6.5%.

Core sector, comprising of eight core industries, rose 6.7% in January compared to 4.2%.

India's February manufacturing PMI eased to four-month low at 52.1, down from 52.4 in January.

India's fiscal Deficit for April-January, at 6.76 lakh cr., stands at 113.7% of Rs 5.9 lakh crore revised FY18 target.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Asian markets are trading with cuts of 0.4%-1.4% and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 60 points lower start for our market.

Readers would recall that we had advised partial profit booking in trading longs around 10638 hurdle and had yestrday suggested exiting remaining positions if the benchmark sustains below the immediate support placed around 10500.

Yesterday, Nifty, after touching a low of 10461 in first hour, rebounded to end at 10492 but is set to open below 10450 today. 10410, the two-third retracement level of the recent 10302-10632 upmove, would be the next support to eye in that case. Below 10410, 10340, where a trendline adjoining bottoms made in February is placed, would be the next support to eye.

10535, the top made yesterday, would be the immediate hurdle above which 10638 would be the bigger resistance to eye.

Auto companies will report February sales figures today.

Indian markets will remain shut tomorrow on account of Holi.