8970 CONTINUES TO BE IMPORTANT HURDLE; 8880 IMMEDIATE SUPPORT

8970 CONTINUES TO BE IMPORTANT HURDLE; 8880 IMMEDIATE SUPPORT

WORLD MARKETS                             

Dow and S & P 500 gained 0.1% each while Nadaq rose 0.3%, looking forward to a key speech from President Donald Trump. Dow gained for the 12^th straight day, marking the longest winning streak since 1987.

White House budget officials told reporters that Trump's first budget will call for a $54 billion increase in defense spending and a corresponding cut in what his administration deems lower priority programs.

Durable goods orders rose 1.8% in January, slightly above the expected 1.7% increase. Pending home sales dropped 2.8% in January to their lowest level in a year.

WTI oil gained 0.1% to $54.05 a barrel while Brent fell 0.1% to $55.93.

U.S. Treasury yields rose after hitting a five-week low on Friday, with the benchmark 10-year note yield at 2.37% and the two-year note yielding 1.2%. Dollar index erased earlier losses to trade 0.1% higher.

In Europe, CAC was unchanged, FTSE and DAX ended modestly higher while Italy soared 1.7%.

AT HOME

After a flattish start, Sensex and Nifty saw a sustained downward move through the session to end lower by 0.3% and 0.5% respectively. Sensex lost 80 points to settle at 28813 while Nifty finished at 8897, down 43 points. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices however managed to end higher by 0.01% and 0.2% respectively. BSE Telecom index tumbled 2.8%, becoming top loser among the sectoral indices, followed by 1.4% cut in Bankex. Energy and Oil & Gas indices were the top gainers, putting on 1.8% and 0.7% respectively.

FIIs net sold stocks, index futures and stock futures worth Rs 146 cr, 157 cr and 258 cr respectively. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 264 cr.

Rupee appreciated 12 paise to end at 66.70/$.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Asian markets are trading with gains of upto 0.7% and SGX Nifty is suggesting a marginally higher start for our market.

After achieving the major target of 8970 last week, Nifty has seen profit booking and closed at 8897 yesterday. As we have been mentioning, a decisive crossover of 8970 is required for a fresh upmove and 9119, the top made in March 2015, would be the immediate target and 10000 would be the eventual target if that happens.

Meanwhile, 8880 continues to be immediate support, a breach of which will generate a sell on the hourly chart and would pave the way for further correction.

Government will release GDP growth number for the December quarter, which is expected to show a figure of 6.1% as against 7.2% growth registered in the same quarter last year.

Trump is set to speak at a joint Congress session today, and markets will look for clues about the administration's plans for tax reform and deregulation.