NIFTY REBOUNDS FROM 8450 SUPPORT; ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE 8710 TARGET

NIFTY REBOUNDS FROM 8450 SUPPORT; ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE 8710 TARGET

WORLD MARKETS                             

US indices gained between 0.1%-0.4% on Thursday, breaking a two-day losing streak as investors digested economic data, set up for Friday's jobs report and weighed news of a possible accord between Iran and major world powers.

Factory orders showed an increase of 0.2% in February, beating expectations for a second month of decline. Futures were little changed following a decline in weekly jobless claims to 268,000. February's trade deficit also came in much smaller than expected at $35.4 billion.

Reports suggested that Iran and key global powers have reached solutions on key parameters of the country's nuclear program.

U.S. crude settled at $49.14 a barrel, down 95 cents or 1.9%.

European markets ended mixed with modest changes. European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers confirmed their commitment to the recently implemented bond-buying program, minutes from their March meeting reveal.

US and European markets were shut on Friday for Good Friday. For the week, Dow and S & P 500 gained 0.3% each while Nasdaq lost 0.1%. In Europe, FTSE lost 0.3% while CAC and DAX gained 0.8% each.

AT HOME

After a lackluster and rangebound morning trade, benchmark indices spiked up in the noon trade to end higher by 1.1%. Sensex surged 303 points to settle at 28260 while Nifty finished at 8586, up 95 points. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices gained 1.5% and 2.3% respectively. Except a 1.1% and 0.5% cut in BSE IT and TEck indices respectively, all the sectoral indices ended higher, with Bankex and Healthcare indices leading the tally, putting on 2.3% each.

HCL Tech plunged 3.8% after the company said a stronger dollar would hurt its January-March revenue by 280 bps.

Maruti reported 1.6% y-o-y fall in March total sales at 1.11 lac units. M & M reported 12% dip at 45212 units. Ashok Leyland reported 24% rise at 12754 units. Hero MotoCorp reported 1.5% rise in March sales at 5.32 lakh units. TVS Motors reported 7% rise at 2.11 lakh units. Tata Motors reported 3% rise at 52479 units.

FIIs net bought stocks, index futures and stock futures worth Rs 210 cr, 75 cr and 148 cr respectively. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 197 cr.

OUTLOOK

Data released on Friday showed the US added 126000 jobs in March, the weakest since 2013 and below expectations of 245000. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.5%, in line with expectations while wages increased slightly more than estimated at 0.3%. The employment report affirms market views that September could be the earliest time frame for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates from record lows.

Today morning Bourses in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are shut for the Ching Ming Festival. Nikkei is trading modestly lower while SGX Nifty is trading around 8680, which is about 50 points higher than Wednesday's close of Nifty future.

In Wednesday's report we had mentioned that one should stay long with the stop loss of 8450 and that a crossover of 8550 can take Nifty to around 8710, where the 34-DMA is placed.

The benchmark, after touching a low of 8465 in the initial trade, surged to end at 8586 and is set to open further higher today. 8710, the 34-DMA, continues to be the major upside target. 8450 continues to be the immediate support with the stop loss of which trading longs should be held on to.