NIFTY ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE 9950-10000 TARGET; TRAIL STOP-LOSS TO 9780

NIFTY ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE 9950-10000 TARGET; TRAIL STOP-LOSS TO 9780

WORLD MARKETS                             

US indices gained 0.4%-0.6% on Friday with the Dow and S & P 500 setting fresh intraday and closing records.

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all posted better-than-expected profits. However, shares of JPMorgan and Citigroup fell after reporting declines in trading sales.

Retail sales and consumer inflation for June both disappointed with U.S. consumer prices remaining unchanged in June.

The benchmark 10-year yield briefly broke below 2.3% following the data. Dollar index fell about 0.6% to touch a nine-month low.

Oil gained nearly a percent.

European markets fell upto half a percent

French President Macron and US President Trump celebrated Bastille Day. During a joint news conference Thursday, Trump hinted that "something could happen" to change his decision in June to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.

For the week, US indices gained 0.6%-1.4%. European markets added 0.4%-2%.  In Asia, Hang Seng soared 4% while Nikkei and Shanghai were up 1% and 0.1% respectively.

AT HOME

Benchmark indices ended marginally lower after a ragebound but choppy trade. Sensex lost 17 points to settle at 32021 while Nifty finished at 9886, down 5 points. BSE mid-cap index gained 0.2% but the small-cap index lost 0.4%. BSE IT was the top loser among the sectoral indices, down 1%, followed by 0.6% cut in Teck and Realty indices. Utilities index rose 1% to become top gainer, followed by 0.9% higher Healthcare and Telecom indices.

FIIs net bought stocks and stock futures worth Rs 674 cr and 47 cr respectively but net sold index futures worth Rs 310 cr. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 136 cr.

Rupee ended unchanged at 64.45/$.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty gained 2.1% and 2.3% respectively.

Infosys' first quarter earnings beat expectations on all counts, with the company retaining its full year constant currency revenue growth guidance. Consolidated profit fell 3.3% sequentially to Rs 3,483 crore and revenue declined 0.2% to Rs 17,078 crore. Dollar revenue growth was 3.2% at USD 2,651 mn. It maintained its constant currency revenue growth guidance at 6.5-8.5% (which was 8.3% in FY17 and 13.3% in FY16) and also retained operating margin guidance at 23-25% for the current financial year. It raised its FY18 dollar revenue growth guidance to 7.1-9.1% from 6.1-8.1% earlier.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Shanghai is down more than a percent but other Asian markets are trading with modest gains and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 40 points higher start for our market.

At the risk of repeating, we have been working with target area of 9950-10000 ever since 9710 hurdle was taken out. Nifty last week touched a high of 9913 before closing at 9886 and is set to open higher today.

Immediate support on the hourly chart has moved up to 9780, with the stop-loss of which trading longs should be held on to

Monsoon session of the Parliament starts today where cow vigilantism, farmers' protests, the Kashmir unrest, corruption charges against opposition leaders and India's stand-off with China are expected to dominate. However, the most important issue will be the election of the new President of India, voting for which will happen today. Counting of votes will be done on Thursday. Parliamentary panel on finance will present its report on demonatisation. Key bills to be considered include Prevention of Corruption (amendment) bill, Whistle blowers' protection bill, Citizenship (amendment) bill, Motor vehicles (amendment) bill, Consumer protection Bill.

ACC reports its quarterly earnings today.