10638-10398 CONTINUES TO BE IMMEDIATE RANGE

10638-10398 CONTINUES TO BE IMMEDIATE RANGE

WORLD MARKETS

Dow and S & P 500 rose 1.2% each while Nasdaq climbed 1.6% to extend winning streak to fifth straight day, despite interest rates reaching multi-year highs.

Jobless claims increased by 7,000 to 230,000, rebounding from a near 45-year low. The producer price index rose 0.4% in January, in line with expectations.

WTI crude rose 1.2% to $61.34 on the back of weak dollar and comments from Saudi Arabia that major oil producers would prefer tighter markets than to end supply cuts too early

European markets gained upto 1.1% with France on the top.

AT HOME

After gaining more than a percent in the morning, benchmark indices gave away more than half of the gains in late noon sell-off to end higher by just four tenth of a percent. Sensex settled 141 points higher at 34297 while Nifty added 44 points to finish at 10545. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices tumbled 0.5% and 1.3% respectively. BSE Telecom and Industrial indices fell 1.2% and 0.9% respectively to become top losers among sectoral indices while Oil & Gas and Metal indices were the top gainers, up 1% and 0.7% respectively.

FIIs net sold stocks worth Rs 240 cr but net bought index futures and stock futures worth Rs 537 cr and 548 cr respectively. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 50 cr.

Rupee appreciated 18 paise to end at 63.91/$.

Trade deficit widened to a 56-month high at USD 16.86 in January as exports rose 9% to USD 24.38 bn and imports surged 26.1% to USD 40.68 bn.

India's wholesale inflation, as measured by WPI, eased to a 6-month low of 2.84% in January from 3.58% in December.

OUTLOOK

Markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam are shut today. Nikkei is up nearly a percent and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 40 points higher start for our market.

Nifty has been in a consolidation mode after hitting a low of 10276 last week. As mentioned yesterday, 10638-10398, the top and bottom made on last Thursday and Friday respectively, is the immediate range to work with. A crossover of 10638 can take Nifty to 10725, which is the 50% retracement level of the recent 11171-10276 fall. On the way down, below 10398, 10276 would be the crucial support to eye.