NIFTY EXTENDS CONSOLIDATION; US JOBS DATA IN FOCUS

NIFTY EXTENDS CONSOLIDATION; US JOBS DATA IN FOCUS

WORLD MARKETS                             

Dow and S & P 500 fell 0.1% each while Nasdaq gained 0.4% yesterday amidst sharp decline in oil and awaiting Friday's non-farm payroll data.

US oil fell $2.29 or 4.8% to $45.14 after the EIA said weekly crude inventories declined 2.2 million barrels, far less than the 6.7 million barrel draw down the American Petroleum Institute reported late Wednesday.

A report from ADP and Moody's showed private sector jobs rose by 172,000 in June, versus consensus expectations of 159,000. Initial jobless claims came in at 254,000 for the week of July 2.

Dollar index rose 0.2%. Pound was near $1.291 after hitting a 31-year low of $1.2796 on Wednesday. Gold fell 0.4% to $1262 an ounce.

European markets gained upto a percent.

AT HOME

It was a day of consolidation as benchmark indices, after trading in a narrow range for better part of the day, saw a choppy last hour and half but ended little changed. Sensex settled at 27201, up 35 points while Nifty added 2 points to finish at 8338. BSE mid-cap index lost 0.4% while small-cap index rose 0.04%. BSE Healthcare and FMCG indices climbed 1.1% and 0.9% respectively, becoming top gainers among the sectoral indices while IT and Teck indices tumbled 1.6% respectively, becoming top losers.

FIIs net sold stocks, index futures and stock futures worth Rs 300 cr, 224 cr and 479 cr respectively. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 160 cr.

Rupee appreciated 7 paise to end at 67.39/$.

Lupin soared 7.8% after the company received an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US drug regulator which states that the inspection conducted in July 2015 at Lupin’s Goa facility has been closed.

Tata Steel nosedived 5% on reports that the sale of company's UK business might be kept on hold to look at all the choices including pension liability. Sale of Port Talbot asset might also be put on hold.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, except a 0.3% higher Nikkei, other Asian markets are trading with cuts of upto half a percent and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 10 points lower start for our market.

After six consecutive up days, Nifty has been in a consolidation mode over last two days which should be considered healthy. 8240 continues to be the immediate support on the hourly chart with the stop loss of which trading longs can be held on to.

8655, the top made last July, which is also the 52-week high, continues to be the major upside target to eye as we have been mentioning.

Key data to watch out today would be the US June non-farm payroll where markets would be watching for signs that May's disappointing headline figure of 38000 was an exception. The figure this time expected is 175000.