10700 BELOW 10800; 10945 IS IMMEDIATE HURDLE

10700 BELOW 10800; 10945 IS IMMEDIATE HURDLE

WORLD MARKETS

US indices gained 0.1%-0.7% on the back of strong quarterly earnings from companies like IBM, United Technologies and Procter & Gamble.

United Technologies and Procter & Gamble rose 5% each after reporting better-than-expected earnings. IBM jumped 8.5% in its best session since Oct. 18, 2017.

Officials from the Chinese finance ministry said yesterday that Beijing will boost fiscal expenditure in 2019 to bolster the country's economy.

US oil fell 39 cents to $52.62 a barrel and Brent slipped 35 cents to $61.15.

European markets fell 0.2%-0.8%.

AT HOME

After a lackluster first half, benchmark indices saw a steep fall in second half to end lower by just under a percent, extending the losing streak to second consecutive day. Sensex settled at 36108, down 336 points while Nifty lost 91 points to finish at 10831. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices fell 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. Except 0.6% and 0.4% higher Metal and Healthcare indices respectively, all the BSE sectoral indices ended in red with FMCG index leading the losses, down 1.4%, followed by 1.2% lower Power and Consumer Durable indices.

FIIs net sold stocks and index futures worth Rs 776 cr and 315 cr respectively but net bought stock futures worth Rs 538 cr. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 584 cr.

Rupee appreciated 10 paise to end at 71.33/$.

ITC reported better-than-expected topline and bottomline but margin was a miss. Revenue rose 14.9% y-o-y to Rs 11228 cr, EBITDA was up 11.2% at Rs 4326 cr, margin fell 130 bps to 38.5% and profit was up 3.8% at Rs 3209 cr. Cigarette business revenue rose 9.6%, EBIT was up 8.8% while margin dipped 50 bps to 70.1%.

Piyush Goyal has been named interim finance minister in the absence of Arun Jaitley who is away in the US for medical treatment. Goyal is also likely to present vote on account on 1st February.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Asian markets are trading little changed and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 10 points higher start for our market.

After getting resisted at 10985 hurdle on Monday, Nifty yesterday broke immediate support of 10860 by plunging all the way to 10811 before closing at 10831.

34-DMA, placed around 10800, is the next downside support to eye. Below 10800, 10700, where a trendline adjoining bottoms made in October and December is placed, would be the next support to eye.

10945, the top made yesterday, is the immediate hurdle, with the stop-loss of which, trading shorts can be held on to.

Yes Bank and Ultratech Cement will report their quarterly earnings today.