7240 ACHIEVED, 7120 NEXT

7240 ACHIEVED, 7120 NEXT

WORLD MARKETS                             

After rising nearly a percent and half in the initial trade, US indices plunged sharply to end mixed with Dow down 0.6%, flat S & P and 0.4% higher Nasdaq. This was amidst volatility in oil prices and as markets digested Yellen's testimony.

After gaining more than 3.5% after the EIA data that showed 0.8 mn barrel fall in the US oil inventories, Nymex oil fell 49 cents or 1.75% to $27.45 a barrel Brent rose 73 cents to $31.06 a barrel.

In her testimony to Congress, Fed Chair Yellen said if the U.S. economy were to disappoint, the Fed would have to reconsider its rate hike path. Yellen answered questions after delivering her remarks, saying "I don't think it will be necessary to cut rates but like I said monetary policy is not on a preset course."

European markets gained 0.7%-5% with Italy leading the tally.

AT HOME

Mayhem on Dalal Street continued as benchmark indices, after a gap down opening, fell further through the session to end with cuts in excess of a percent, marking a fresh 21-month low. Sensex slipped 262 points to settle at 23759 while Nifty ended at 7216, down 82 points. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices lost 1% and 1.4% respectively. Except a marginal 0.02% rise in Energy index, all the BSE sectoral indices ended in red with Realty and Finance indices leading the tally with cuts of 3.5% and 2.2% respectively.

FIIs net sold stocks, index futures and stock futures worth Rs 751 cr, 418 cr and 1269 cr respectively. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 197 cr.

Rupee appreciated 6 paise to end at 67.845/$.

ACC reported 69% dip in consolidated net profit at Rs 102.4 cr. Income rose 2.8% to Rs 2912 cr. Operating profit rose 8.8% to Rs 280 cr and margin stood at 9.6%, up 54 bps y-o-y  but down 163 bps q-o-q.

Cipla, affected by some one-off charges, reported lower-than-expected 4.7% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 343 cr. Net sales rose 15.3% to Rs 2625 cr. 

OUTLOOK

Today, Hang Seng, after holidays, has opened nearly 4% down, Korea is down more than 2% and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 60 points lower opening for our market.

After Nifty broke immediate support of 7350, we had given downside target of 7240, which was the bottom made in January. In yesterday's report we had said that below 7240, next target to eye would be 7120, which is the 50% retracement level of the entire 5119-9119 upmove.

The benchmark achieved 7240 target in the opening trade itself and fell further to 7178 before closing at 7216.

A gap down opening today would take the benchmark close to 7150 mark.

7120 continues to be downside target to eye. Immediate hurdle on the hourly chart has moved lower to 7370, which should now serve as the stop loss for trading shorts.

SBI, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, BHEL, Coal India and Hero MotoCorp will report their quarterly earnings today.