NIFTY REBOUNDS FROM CRUCIAL SUPPORT; 8470 IS THE IMMEDIATE RESISTANCE

WORLD MARKETS                             

Dow and S & P 500 gained 0.1% and 0.2% respectively while Nasdaq surged 0.7%  on Friday as investors cheered earnings reports from Microsoft, Google, Amazon.com and Starbucks. Nasdaq closed at record for the second day in a row.

Microsoft soared more than 10% after reporting earnings and revenue that beat estimates after the close Thursday. Amazon.com climbed 14% despite reporting an expected decline in earnings and light guidance.

Durable goods, ex-transportation, fell 0.2%, below expectations for a slight gain but less than February's 1.3% decline. Including transportation, which tends to be volatile, the report posted an increase of 4% for March, surpassing expectations for a moderate bounce back, after February's disappointing 1.4% month-on-month drop.

Nymex oil fell 1% to $57.15 a barrel. Gold plunged $19.30 to $1175.

European markets gained between 0.3%-1% as investors reacted to a slew of corporate earnings news. Germany's IFO survey of business sentiment showed a rise in April and came in close to market expectations.

As expected, little progress was made when Greece's finance minister met with his euro zone counterparts on Friday.

AT HOME

After falling nearly a percent and half through the session, benchmark indices recovered somewhat in last 20 minutes of trade to finally end lower by 1.1%. Sensex settled at 27438, down 297 points while Nifty lost 93 points to finish at 8305. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices lost 1.6% and 2.7% respectively. Except a flat FMCG index, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in red, with Realty and Consumer Durable indices leading the tally, giving away 3.8% and 3.2% respectively.

Infosys missed street estimates with the dollar revenues falling 2.66% to USD 2159 mn as against expectation of a 0.3% growth. In constant currency terms, revenues fell 0.4% Vs expectation of a 2%-2.5% growth. Net profit fell 4.7% to Rs 3097 cr and rupee revenues fell 2.8% to Rs 13411 cr. The company however, surprised with a 1:1 bonus and gave a dollar revenue growth guidance of 10-12% for 2015-16, which was above estimates.

FIIs net sold stocks and index futures worth Rs 775 cr and 530 cr respectively but net bought stock futures worth Rs 884 cr. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 896 cr.

Rupee fell 24 paise to end at 63.56/$, a 3-1/2 month low.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty plunged 3.5% each, extending the losing streak to second week.

The long-pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill was moved in the Lok Sabha on Friday for consideration amid stiff resistance by several Opposition parties. Members of the Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi, along with those of the TMC, the Left and NCP staged a walk-out after their plea for referring the Constitution Amendment Bill to the Standing Committee was not accepted.

‎MoS Finance Jayant Sinha in a written reply to Parliament revealed on Friday that the 68 MAT notices served to FPI's - amount to only Rs 600 cr - a huge climbdown from the Rs 40,000 cr likely demand that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely had spoken about.

OUTLOOK

Today morning Shanghai and Hang Seng are up about a percent and half, other Asian markets are little changed and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 20 points higher opening for our market.

Nifty on Friday touched a low of 8273, nearly retesting the 8269 bottom made in March, before closing at 8305. As we have been mentioning, 8269 continues to be a crcial support, as a weekly close below which would confirm a lower-top lower-bottom formation on the weekly chart and would turn the medium-term view bearish. Also, you have got important 200-DMA support around 8260.

7961, the bottom made in December, would be the next logical target if support levels mentioned above are violated.

Traders should wait for the close below 8260 for initiating fresh shorts. Immediate resistance on the hourly chart is placed around 8470, a crossover of which should be awaited for taking fresh longs.

Maruti and ICICI Bank will report their quarterly earnings today.