10410, 10340 CONTINUE TO BE DOWNSIDE TARGETS; 10535 IMMEDIATE HURDLE

10410, 10340 CONTINUE TO BE DOWNSIDE TARGETS; 10535 IMMEDIATE HURDLE

WORLD MARKETS

Dow fell 0.3% but S & P 500 and Nasdaq gained 0.5% and 1.1% respectively on Friday. All 3 indices rebounded nearly a percent from opening lows.

On Thursday, US indices tumbled 1.3%-1.7% following the announcement from President Trump saying the U.S. will implement a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports next week.

Trump on Friday tweeted "When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win."

European markets tumbled 1.5%-2.4%, with basic resources falling the most, on US tarrif announcement. The European Commission responded by saying it won't sit idly and will take the decision to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

US crude rose 26 cents to settle at $61.25.

For the week, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 3.1%, 2% and 1.1% respectively. European markets tumbled 2.4%-4.7% with DAX losing the most. In Asia, Nikkei plunged 3.2% while Hang Seng and Shanghai fell 2.2% and 1% respectively.

AT HOME

Benchmark indices ended lower by about four tenth of a percent on the back of late noon sell-off on the last day of the truncated trading week. Sensex lost 137 points to settle at 34046 while Nifty finished at 10458, down 34 points. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices slipped 0.6% and 0.2% respectively. Except 0.1% higher Oil & Gas and FMCG indices, all the BSE sectoral indices ended in red with Metal index and Bankex leading the losses, down 1% and 0.8% respectively.

FIIs net bought stocks worth Rs 242 cr but net sold index futures and stock futures worth Rs 668 cr and 268 cr respectively. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 3 cr.

Rupee appreciated 1 paise to end at 65.17/$.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty lost 0.3% each.

Bajaj Auto reported 31% y-o-y rise in February sales at 3.57 lakh units. Maruti sold 15% higher vehicles at 1.49 lakh units. Ashok Leyland sales rose 29% to 18181 units. M & M sold 52048 units, a growth of 32%. Tata Motor registered 33.5% growth at 63761 units. TVS posted 37% growth at 2.91 lakh units while Hero sales rose 20% to 6.29 lakh units.

BJP put up a spectacular show in Tripura in recently held assembly elections, ending 25 years of the Left rule, and was looking to formation of coalition governments in Nagaland and Meghalaya in the face of hung verdicts.

OUTLOOK

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang today said the country was targeting GDP growth of around 6.5% this year, the same growth target it had in 2017.

Parliamentary elections in Italy at the weekend look set to result in a hung parliament, according to an exit poll.

Today morning, Nikkei is down about half a percent but Hang Seng and Shanghai are trading with modest gains. SGX Nifty is trading around 10375, which is down about 75 points compared to Thursday's close of Nifty futures.

After Nifty broke the immediate support of 10500 on Wednesday, we had said in Thursday's report that "10410, the two-third retracement level of the recent 10302-10632 upmove, would be the next support to eye below which 10340, where a trendline adjoining bottoms made in February is placed, would be the next support to eye."

A gap down opening today would take Nifty below 10400 and in that case 10340, as mentioned above, would be the next support to eye.

Meanwhile 10535,the top made on Wednesday, continues to be immediate hurdle on the hourly chart, with the stop-loss of which, trading shorts can be held on to.