STILL STUCK IN A RUT

STILL STUCK IN A RUT

WORLD MARKETS                             

US indices fell 0.1% each yesterday amid fall in oil prices.

Oil snapped 7-day winning streak as US crude September contract fell 3% to $47.05 a barrel while October contract slipped 3.6% to $47.41. Brent fell 3.4% or $1.72 to $49.16. China's July diesel and gasoline exports soared 182% percent and 145% y-o-y respectively. In the U.S., drillers added 10 oil rigs in the week to August 19, marking eight straight weeks of rig additions, while Iraq said it plans to increase its export of crude oil.

In Europe FTSE, CAC and DAX fell 0.2%-0.5% while Italy and Spain rose 0.4% and 0.2% respectively.

AT HOME

After gaining about a fifth of a percent in the initial trade, benchmark indices slipped about two third of a percent from the top of the day to end lower by about four tenth of a percent. Sensex settled at 27986, down 91 points while Nifty lost 38 points to finish at 8629. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices lost 0.4% and 0.1% respectively. Except a 0.6% and 0.2% rise in BSE FMCG and Consumer Durable indices respectively, all the sectoral indices ended in red with IT index leading the fall, down 1.1%, followed by 0.9% each cut in Teck and Auto indices.

FIIs net sold stocks, index futures and stock futures worth Rs 300 cr, 457 cr and 308 cr respectively. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 52 cr.

Rupee depreciated 13 paise to end at 67.19/$.

NTPC reported 4.1% y-o-y growth in quarterly net profit at Rs 2369 cr. Total income from operations rose 11.5% to Rs 19063 cr. EBIDTA shot up 66% to Rs 5210 cr and margin expanded by 670 bps to 27.3%. Topline and bottomline met expectations whereas operational performance was ahead of estimates.

HPCL reported better-than-expected earnings on all parameters. Net profit rose 30% to Rs 2098 cr. Operating profit rose 17% to Rs 3627 cr and margin expanded by 130 bps to 7%. GRM stood at USD 6.83 a barrel against 8.56 in the previous quarter. The company declared 2:1 bonus.

OUTLOOK

Today morning Nikkei and Hang Seng are down about a fourth of a percent, other Asian markets are flat to modestly higher and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 10 points lower start for our market.

At the risk of repeating, Nifty continues to be in the consolidation mode for three weeks and yesterday was another day added in that tradition.

34-DMA has now moved up to 8570, which, along with immediate previous bottom of 8540, makes 8570-8540 an important support area. 8420, the 38.2% retracement level of the 7927-8728 umove, would be next support if 8540 is taken out. 8700-8730 continues to be the supply area on the way up, a decisive crossover of which is required for the fresh upmove.

Tata Power and Aurobindo Pharma will report their quarterly earnings today.