NIFTY ACHIEVES 11180 TARGET; TRAIL STOP-LOSS TO 11050

NIFTY ACHIEVES 11180 TARGET; TRAIL STOP-LOSS TO 11050

WORLD MARKETS

US indices soared 0.8%-2% with Nasdaq on the top, on the back of better-than-expected retail sales data and as strong gains in tech shares like Apple, Nvidia and Facebook offset a steep decline in Boeing.

Boeing fell 5.3% after a plane crash on Sunday that involved the 737 MAX 8 jet. Apple rose 3.5% after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to buy from neutral.

Retail sales unexpectedly rose 0.2% month-on-month and 2.3% y-o-y in January, as against expectation of being unchanged.

US oil rose 72 cents or 1.3% to $56.79 a barrel and Brent rose 83 cents, or 1.26%, to $66.57, lifted by comments from Saudi Energy Minister that an end to OPEC-led supply cuts was unlikely before June. Tech shares also got a boost after Nvidia announced it is buying Mellanox Technologies for $6.8 billion.

European markets gained 0.4%-0.8%. The pound jumped as British Prime Minister Theresa May managed to secure last minute support from the EU for her Brexit deal before it goes to a crucial vote on Tuesday.

AT HOME

Sensex and Nifty surged 1% and 1.2% respectively to close at the highest level since 19th September 2018, marking a near six-month high. Sensex settled at 37054, up 382 points while Nifty added 132 points to finish at 11168. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices soared 2% and 1.6% respectively. Except 0.1% lower IT index, all the BSE sectoral indices ended in green with Telecom index leading the tally, up 5.6%, followed by 2.8% higher Oil & Gas index.

FIIs net bought stocks and stock futures worth Rs 3811 cr and 751 cr respectively but net sold index futures worth Rs 13 cr. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1956 cr.

Rupee appreciated 26 paise to end at 69.88/$, the strongest level since January 7.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Asian markets are trading with gains of 1%-1.7% and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 50 points higher start for our market.

Readers would recall that we have been positive on Nifty ever since immediate hurdle of 10723 was taken out on 20th February and have been advising holding on to long positions with a trailing stop-loss. On the last count, after 10942 hurdle was taken out, we had said that 11118, the top made in early February, would be the next target above which 11180, the 67% retracement level of the entire 11760-10004 fall, would be the next target.

Nifty yesterday soared to touch a high of 11180 before closing at 11168, achieving the targets mentioned above and vindicating our view.

11320 followed by 11384, the 75% and 78.6% retracement levels of the entire 11760-10004 fall, are the next upside targets to eye.

Immediate support on the hourly chart has moved up to 11050, with the stop-loss of which, trading longs can be held on to.

India's February CPI data will be out today and is expected to show a reading of 2.37%, up from 2.05% in January. January IIP is expected to slow down to 1.8% from 2.4% in December.