8595-8475 CONTINUES TO BE IMMEDIATE RANGE

8595-8475 CONTINUES TO BE IMMEDIATE RANGE

WORLD MARKETS                             

US indices gained 0.3%-0.5% on Friday with the S&P hitting a new record high amidst mixed earnings and an upbeat U.S. manufacturing report.

US manufacturing PMI for July rose to 52.9 from 51.3 to hit its best level since October.

Earnings were mixed. While GE, American Airline, Honeywell, Stanley Black & Decker, and Whirlpool topped estimate, Starbucks, Chipotle, and Skechers were among the misses.

WTI crude fell 56 cents or 1.25% to $44.19 a barrel after data showed the number of rigs operating in the U.S. rose for a fourth consecutive week to 371. Brent fell 1% to $45.75.

Dollar index gained and Gold fell $8 to $1323 an ounce.

In Europe, while FTSE rose half a percent, other markets ended mixed with modest changes. Eurozone PMI rose to 52.9 in July, above expectations of 52.5. Pound fell to $1.31 after UK services and manufacturing composite index fell to its weakest level since early 2009, to 47.7 from 52.4 in June. The PMI decline adds to expectations that the Bank of England will up stimulus when policymakers meet next month.

For the week Dow, S & P 500 and Nasdaq gained 0.3%, 0.6% and 1.4% respectively, extending the winning streak to fourth straight week. . In Europe, FTSE, DAX and CAC gained 0.9%, 0.8% and 0.2% respectively.

AT HOME

After a flattish start, benchmark indices saw some gains through the choppy session to finally end higher by a third of a percent. Sensex settled at 27803, up 93 points while Nifty added 31 points to finish at 8541. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose 1% and 0.8% respectively. Except a 0.3% lower IT index, all the sectoral indices ended in green with BSE Power and Utilities indices leading the tally, up 1.4% each followed by 1.3% gain in Metal and Industrial indices.

FIIs net bought stocks and index futures worth Rs 438 cr and 559 cr respectively but net sold stock futures worth Rs 484 cr. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 366 cr.

Rupee appreciated 9 paise to end at 67.08/$.

For the week, Nifty ended absolutely flat while Sensex lost 0.1%.

Axis Bank disappointed on all counts with the profit falling 21.4% to Rs 1,555.5 crore on yearly basis, impacted by sharp surge in provisions. NII grew 11.4% to Rs 4517 cr. Provisions for bad loans increased sharply by 81% q-o-q to Rs 2118 cr. Gross NPA climbed 87 bps to 2.54% and net NPA rose 38 bps to 1.08%.

Vedanta sweetened merger terms for Cairn India minority shareholder according to which later will receive, for each equity share held, one equity share in Vedanta and four redeemable preference shares with a face value of Rs 10 in Vedanta. This translates to implied premium of 20% to one month volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of Cairn India share price.

OUTLOOK

Today morning Asian markets are trading mixed with modest changes and SGX Nifty is suggesting a flattish start for our market.

Nifty has been trading within the 8595-8475 range for last 9 sessions and a breach of this range, on either side, is required for the fresh direction as we have been mentioning.

A decisive crossover of 8595 would open up the space for the further upside till about 8845, the top made in April 2015. A breach of 8475 can take the benchmark to 8400.