NIFTY RETREATS AFTER ACHIEVING MAJOR TARGET OF 8970

NIFTY RETREATS AFTER ACHIEVING MAJOR TARGET OF 8970

WORLD MARKETS                             

US indices gained upto 0.2% on Friday, with the Dow recording its 11th straight record close and its longest winning streak since 1992.

US treasuries rose with the benchmark 10-year note yield falling to 2.33% while the two-year note yield declined to 1.15%. Gold jumped $7 to $1258 per ounce, marking a three and a half month high.

WTI oil fell 46 cents to $53.99 a barrel on concerns over rising U.S. supplies after oilfield service firm Baker Hughes reported its weekly count of U.S. oil rigs topped 600 for the first time since October, 2015.

U.S. new home sales rose 3.7% in January, below the expected increase of 6.3%. Consumer sentiment hit 96.3 in February, slightly above an estimate of 96.

European markets fell 0.4%-1.2% on the back of a fall in commodities and a slew of underwhelming earnings reports.

For the week, Dow and S & P 500 gained 1% and 0.6% respectively while Nasdaq was up 0.1%. In Europe, FTSE and CAC lost -0.8% and 0.4% respectively but DAX gained 0.4%. In Asia, Shanghai soared 1.6%, Nikkei added 0.2% but Hang Seng fell 0.3%.

AT HOME

After gaining nearly six tenth of a percent, benchmark indices gave away most of the gains in late noon tumble to end just marginally higher. Sensex settled at 28893, up 28 points while Nifty added 13 points to finish at 8940. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices gained 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. BSE Telecom and IT indices gained 1.8% and 1.7% respectively, becoming top gainers among the sectoral indices while Energy and Utilities indices were the top losers, down 0.8% and 0.6% respectively.

FIIs net bought stocks, index futures and stock futures worth Rs 392 cr, 2431 cr and 37 cr respectively. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 445 cr.

Rupee appreciated 14 paise to end at 66.82/$.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty gained 1.5% and 1.3% respectively, extending the winning streak to fifth straight week.

BJP won 8 out of 10 municipal corporations of Maharashtra.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Asian markets are trading with cuts of 0.3%-1.3% and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 20 points lower start for our market.

Nifty on Thursday touched a high of 8982, achieving the 8970 target we have been working with ever since 8560, the 61.8% retracement level of the entire 8970-7893 fall, was taken out on 25th January.

The benchmark however could not sustain above that level and slipped to end the week at 8940.

As we have been mentioning, a decisive crossover of 8970 is required for the fresh upmove. If that happens, 9119, the top made in March 2015, would be the next target to eye. Meanwhile, immediate support on the hourly chart has move up to 8880, with the stop-loss of which existing longs can be held on to.