9510 IS THE IMPORTANT SUPPORT; 9650, 9710 UPSIDE HURDLES

9510 IS THE IMPORTANT SUPPORT; 9650, 9710 UPSIDE HURDLES

WORLD MARKETS                             

Dow and S & P 500 ended marginally in the green but Nasdaq lost 0.2% on Friday on the back of mixed economic data and after Amazon announced it was buying Whole Foods. Dow closed at fresh record high

Housing starts and consumer sentiment figures both missed expectations.

Shares of Wal-Mart and other big retail and grocery companies fell sharply after Amazon announced it was buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. Amazon itself gained 2.4%.

European markets gained 0.4%-0.9%.

The International Monetary Fund agreed to join the Greek bailout program with a standby arrangement of less than $2 billion. However, it will not disburse the money until the euro zone details debt relief measures, which is not expected until next year. Meanwhile, to keep the Greek economy afloat, creditors agreed to disburse $9.5 billion that will allow Athens to complete payments next month. As a result, Greek 10-year bond yields fell to lowest level in nearly a month.

Earlier the Bank of Japan decided to keep its policy unchanged. Russia's central bank announced a 25-basis points cut in a key interest rate to 9% as inflation in the economy nears its target.

For the week, US indices ended mixed with Dow up half a percent, S & P 500 up 0.1% and 0.9% lower Nasdaq. Main European markets lost between 0.5% to 0.8%. Asian markets fell 0.4%-1.6%.

French President Emmanuel Macron's party won a parliamentary majority at the weekend.

AT HOME

Benchmark indices ended little changed after a rangebound but choppy trading session. Sensex settled at 31056, down 19 points while Nifty added 10 points to finish at 9588. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices gained 0.17% and 0.14% respectively. BSE Healthcare and IT indices tumbled 1.5% and 0.8% respectively, becoming top losers among the sectoral indices while FMCG index and Bankex were the top gainers, up 0.6% and 0.5% respectively.

FIIs net sold stocks, index futures and stock futrues worth Rs 764 cr, 276 cr and 500 cr respectively. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 891 cr.

Rupee appreciated 11 paise to end at 64.43/$.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty lost 0.6% and 0.8% respectively.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council yesterday extended the deadline for filing the first set of returns. Giving respite to hospitality sector, council said 28% GST rate will now apply for room tariffs of above Rs 7,500 a night from the earlier threshold of Rs 5,000. Restaurants in five-star hotels will also be taxed at a GST rate of 18%, down from 28% earlier and identical to stand-alone air-conditioned restaurants. The council fixed two GST rates for lotteries—12% for government and 28% for government-authorised private draws.

OUTLOOK

Exports from Japan rose 14.9 percent on year compared to the 16.1 percent rise projected by a Reuters poll. Japan's trade balance, however, registered a deficit of 203.4 billion yen ($1.83 billion) compared to the 76 billion yen surplus expected.

Today morning, Asian markets are trading with gains of upto 0.7% and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 35 points higher start for our market.

After Nifty broke the immediate support of 9580, we had said that 34-DMA, placed around 9500, is the next important support to eye. We had also said that 9650 is the immediate hurdle above which 9710 would be the bigger resistance to eye.

Nifty last week touched a low of 9560 before closing at 9588 and is set to open higher today.

9650, where a trendline adjoining recent tops on the hourly chart is placed, continues to be immediate hurdle, above which, as mentioned above 9710, would be the bigger hurdle to eye.

34 DMA has now moved to 9510, and continues to be important support to eye.