NIFTY ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE 8670 TARGET

NIFTY ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE 8670 TARGET

WORLD MARKETS                             

While Dow ended 0.2% lower on Friday, S & P 500 and Nasdaq gained 0.1% and 0.9% respectively with Nasdaq scaling fresh record high on strong earnings from Google. Dow was weighed down by Intel and Boeing while the S & P 500 came within 5 points of its record close as IT index jumped 1.8% but the 9 other sectors declined.

Both Google Class A and Class C closed up more than 16% and put together added $65 bn in the market cap, marking the biggest one-day gain in history.

June consumer price index (CPI) showed a fifth-straight month of increase with a rise of 0.3%, in-line with estimates. Stripping out food and energy costs, the core CPI rose 0.2% after rising 0.1% in May. Housing starts rebounded strongly in June, up 9.8%, and building permits surged to a near eight-year high. The preliminary read on the July consumer sentiment came in at 93.3.

European markets, except a marginally higher France, ended with modest cuts.

The European Council approved a 7.16 billion euro short-term loan to Greece. Germany's Parliament voted in favor of authorizing its finance ministry to negotiate a third bailout with Greece.

Nymex oil settled down 2 cents at $50.89 a barrel. Gold fell $12 to $1132 an ounce, the lowest since April 2010.

For the week, Nasdaq gained 4.25%, marking its best week since October. Dow and S & P 500 rose 1.84% and 2.4% respectively, posting their best week since March 20. European markets soared 1.5%-1.5%.

AT HOME

Benchmark indices ended marginally higher after a choppy trading session on Friday. Sensex settled at 28463, up 17 points while Nifty finished at 8640, up 2 points. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices gained 0.2% and 0.4% respectively. BSE Consumer Durable index climbed 1.9%, becoming top gainer among the sectoral indices, followed by 1% rise in Teck index. Realty and Metal indices were the top losers, falling half a percent each.

FIIs net bought stocks and index futures worth Rs 606 cr and 264 cr respectively but net sold stock futures worth Rs 223 cr. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 175 cr.

Rupee appreciated 4 paise to end at 63.465/$.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty gained 2.9% and 3% respectively.

ACC reported a 45% y-o-y dip in April-June quarter net profit at Rs 133.5 cr. Income fell

1.5% to Rs 3015 cr. Cement sales fell by 2.4% to 6.2 million tonnes. Operating margin fell to 11.1% from 14.8%.

The latest update from Indian Meteorological Department showed the southwest monsoon was 32% below normal in the first 15 days of July. From June 1 to July 15 the monsoon was six per cent below normal across the country, mainly due to good rain in June.

OUTLOOK

Today morning Asian markets are trading with modest gains and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 20 points higher opening for our market.

At the risk of repeating, we have been bullish on Nifty ever since it crossed 8440 hurdle on 6th July and had given targets of 8561 followed by by 8670 where 8670 is the 61.8% retracement level of the 9119-7940 fall.

The benchmark touched a high of 8643 on Friday, coming very close to the 8670 target.

Above 8670, 8845, the top made in April, would be the next major target to eye.

Immediate support on the hourly chart has moved up to 8515, with the stop loss of which trading longs can be held on to.

Ultratech Cement will report its quarterly earnings today.