STUCK IN 8825-8715 RANGE

STUCK IN 8825-8715 RANGE

WORLD MARKETS                             

US indices gained 0.3%-0.4% to scale yet another record high after digesting remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

Yellen, in prepared remarks to Congress, said that waiting too long to raise interest rates would be "unwise", given the rise in inflation and economic growth.

U.S. Treasury yields ticked higher following Yellen's remarks, with the benchmark 10-year note yields around 2.4725% and the short-term two-year note yield advancing to 1.2383%. Dollar index, after touching a low of 100.70, recovered to end at 101.23, marking a three-week  high.

The NFIB small business index, which measures small-business confidence, hit 105.9, the best read since December 2004.

Copper fell 1.4% on reports that striking workers at Chile's massive Escondida copper mine and BHP, which operates the mine, have agreed to renew talks on Wednesday.

In Europe, FTSE and DAX ended modestly lower while France and Italy gained 0.2% and 0.6% respectively. The euro area grew 0.4% q-o-q in the last three months of 2016, after a preliminary estimate of 0.5%.

AT HOME

Benchmark indices ended modestly lower after a choppy trade, with Nifty breaking four-day winning streak. Sensex settled at 28339, down 12 points while Nifty lost 13 points to finish at 8792. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices lost 0.6% each. BSE Basic Material and Auto indices tumbled 1.1% each, becoming top losers among the sectoral indices while Telecom index soared 1.8% to become top gainer, followed by 0.3% rise in Teck index.

FIIs net sold stocks and stock futures worth Rs 6 cr and 690 cr respectively but net bought index futures worth Rs 1321 cr. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 3 cr.

Rupee appreciated 8 paise to end at 66.93/$.

India's wholesale inflation shot up to a 30-month high of 5.25% in January from 3.39% in December.

Tata Motors third quarter consolidated net profit plunged 96% y-o-y to Rs 112 cr, impacted by big loss in domestic business and operational weakness in JLR. Revenue fell 4.3% to Rs 68541 cr. Operating profit fell 41.7% to Rs 5161 cr and margin contracted by 490 bps to 7.6%.

Sun Pharma reported a 5% dip in net profit at Rs 1472 cr on higher taxes. Revenue was up 8% at Rs 7683 cr. EBIDTA margin declined to 29% from 34.3% sequentially.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Nikkei is up more than a percent, Shanghai is marginally in the red and other Asian markets are trading with gains of upto half a percent. SGX Nifty is suggesting about 15 points higher start.

Nifty has been trading in a narrow 8825-8715 range for last seven sessions and a decisive breach of this range, on either side, is required for a fresh move. Above 8825, 8900-8970 would be the next major target as well as the resistance area as we have been mentioning for quite some time.

Meanwhile, traders can hold on to existing longs with the stop-loss of 8715.