20870 IS NEXT SUPPORT; 21550 IMMEDIATE HURDLE

 

20870 IS NEXT SUPPORT; 21550 IMMEDIATE HURDLE

 

WORLD MARKETS

 

Dow, dragged down by weak earnings, fell quarter of a percent and snap 3-day winning streak but S & P 500 and Nasdaq rose 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.

 

Dow was pressured by an 11% decline in 3M following disappointing guidance. Johnson & Johnson fell 1.6% after reporting earnings.  Lockheed Martin slipped more than 4% following a weak outlook for full-year earnings per share. D.R. Horton dropped more than 9% after the homebuilder missed forecast for per-share earnings. On the other hand, United Airlines rose more than 5% after reporting strong fourth-quarter results.  Verizon and Procter & Gamble gained more than 6% and 4%, respectively, following the companies’ financial reports.

 

U.S. 10-year treasury yield rose 3 bps to 4.132%. Dollar index rose 0.2% to 103.53. Gold rose 0.4% to $2029 per ounce.

 

Yen fell after Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-easy policy and signaled an April exit from negative interest rates.

 

WTI contract for March lost 0.5% to settle at $74.37 a barrel and Brent contract for March fell 0.6% to settle at $79.55 a barrel.

 

In Europe, FTSE was little changed while DAX and CAC fell a third of a percent each.

 

AT HOME

 

Benchmark indices tumbled a percent and half to close at the lowest level in in more than a month. Sensex settled at 70370, down 1053 points while Nifty lost 333 points to finish at 21238. Nifty mid-cap and small-cap indices nosedived 3.1% and 2.9% respectively for their worst cut since 20th December, 2023. Except 1.8% and 1.7% higher Healthcare and Pharma indices respectively, all the NSE sectoral indices ended lower, with Media index suffering the worst cut, down 12.9%, followed by 5.3% lower Realty index.

 

FIIs net sold stocks and index futures worth Rs 3115 cr and 186 cr respectively but net bought stock futures worth Rs 659 cr. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 214 cr.

 

Rupee depreciated 8 paise to end at 83.15/$.

 

Axis Bank reported an operationally weak third quarter.

 

OUTLOOK

 

Today morning, Hang Seng and Shanghai are up 1.5% and 0.4% respectively while Nikkei is down 0.6%. GIFT Nifty is suggesting around 60 points higher start for our market.

 

In yesterday's report we had said that 21850 continued to be immediate hurdle, while 21285, the low made last week, continued to be important immediate support.

 

Nifty, after touching a high of 21750 in the initial trade, reversed and plunged all the way to 21192 before closing at 21238.

 

20870, the 38.2% retracement level of the 18837-22124 upmove seen since late October, is the next downside level to eye; 21550 is the immediate hurdle on the hourly chart, with the stop-loss of which, trading shorts can be held on to.

 

200-DMA, placed around 44700, is the next support for Banknifty; 45900 is immediate hurdle.

 

Bajaj Auto, TVS Motors, Tata Steel and Tech Mahindra will report their quarterly earnings today.

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