11856 IS THE IMMEDIATE HURDLE; 11660 IMMEDIATE SUPPORT

11856 IS THE IMMEDIATE HURDLE; 11660 IMMEDIATE SUPPORT

WORLD MARKETS

American markets were closed on Friday due to Good Friday.

On Thursday, Dow and S & P 500 gained 0.4% and 0.2% respectively while Nasdaq ended flat after digesting solid retail data and more corporate earnings reports.

Retail sales rose by 1.6% last month, higher than the expected gain of 0.9% and marking the strongest gain since September 2017.

Honeywell rose more than 3% on better-than-expected earnings while United Rentals surged 8.2% on its quarterly numbers. Dow member Travelers Cos gained 2.3% on its earnings report while Snap-on jumped 6.5%.

WTI crude settled 24 cents higher at $64 per barrel while Brent rose 35 cents to $71.97 a barrel.

In Europe, FTSE fell 0.2% while DAX and CAC rose 0.6% and 0.3% respectively on Thursday. Equities initially turned negative after German manufacturing data came in below expectations, while France’s data also showed a decline in output. PMI data for the euro zone came also came in below forecasts. The euro fell to a one-week low against the dollar after the figures were released. On the flip side, earnings from consumer goods giant Unilever and energy management firm Schneider Electric beat expectations.

For the week, the Dow and Nasdaq rose 0.6% and 0.2% for the week, respectively, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.1%.

AT HOME

After gaining about half a percent at the open, benchmark indices nosedived to end lower by three tenth of a percent on the last day of the truncated trading week. Sensex settled at 39140, down 135 points while Nifty lost 34 points to finish at 11752. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices slumped 0.9% and 1% respectively. Except 1.9% and 0.8% higher Energy and Oil & Gas indices respectively, all the BSE sectoral indices ended in red with Realty index leading the losses, down 2.3%, followed by 1.3% lower Power and Metal indices.

FIIs net bought stocks and index futures worth Rs 1038 cr and 1207 cr respectively but net sold stock futures worth Rs 17 cr. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 338 cr.

Rupee appreciated 24 paise to close at 69.34/$.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty gained 1% and 0.9% respectively.

HDFC Bank's earnings beat estimates. NII rose 22.8% y-o-y to Rs 13090 cr while Net profit was up 22.6% at Rs 5885 cr. Gross NPA ratio fell 2 bps to 1.36% while net NPA ratio improved 3 bps to 0.39%. Loan growth at 25% was a 5-quarter high while Net interest margin at 4.4% hit a 7-quarter high.

In case of Reliance Industries, performance of both refining and petchem disappointed. Refining GRMs were lowest since Q3 FY15. Petchem EBIT fell for the first time in 8 quarters while refining EBIT fell 17% q-o-q. In case of Jio, there was no positive surprise on revenue front but margin was a beat.

OUTLOOK

Today morning, Nikkei is up half a percent while Shanghai is up 0.4%. Hang Seng is shut. SGX Nifty is suggesting about 30 points higher start for our market.

Readers would recall that after Nifty crossed 11700 hurdle, we had given upside target of 11820, followed by 11900.

Nifty, on Thursday, after touching a high of 11856, slipped to end at 11752 and is set to open higher today.

11856, the top made last week, is now the immediate hurdle to eye, upon crossover of which, 11900 would be the next target.

11660 is the immediate support on the hourly chart, with the stop-loss of which, existing longs can be held on to.