STAY SHORT WITH THE STOP LOSS OF 8770

STAY SHORT WITH THE STOP LOSS OF 8770

WORLD MARKETS                             

US indices ended marginally lower.

Nymex crude rose 32 cents to settle at $56.71 per barrel on news that a tribal group made up of former Al Qaeda militants took control of a major southern oil terminal in Yemen after military forces protecting it withdrew from the site. Brent rose 73 cents to $64.05 a barrel. Benchmark contracts fell earlier after OPEC reported its oil output surged in March.

March housing starts showed a 0.926 million unit rate, below expectations but above February's 0.908 million unit rate. Weekly initial jobless claims came in at 294,000, above expectations and a slight increase from the prior week. The Philadelphia Fed's business outlook index for April showed 7.5, above expectations.

The U.S. dollar fell about 1 percent as the euro gained to above $1.08 for the first time in a week.

European markets saw cuts between 0.5%-1.9%, weighed down by a mixed bag of earnings reports and the further deterioration of Greece's economic outlook.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut Greece's credit rating to "CCC+" from "B-". The 10-year yield on Greek debt reached as high as 12.8%.

AT HOME

After a flattish start, benchmark indices saw a sustained downward move through the session to end lower by half a percent, extending the losing streak to second day. Sensex lost 134 points to settle at 28666 while Nifty finished at 8707, down 43 points. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices lost 0.6% and 0.7% respectively. Except a 0.9% rise in BSE Oil & Gas index, all other sectoral indices ended in red with Realty and Capital Goods indices leading the tally, giving away 2.3% and 1.6% respectively.

FIIs net sold stocks, index futures and stock futures worth Rs 214 cr, 1071 cr and 376 cr respectively. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 432 cr.

Rupee appreciated 7 paise to end at 62.30/$.

Indusind Bank reported 25% rise in fourth quarter net profit at Rs 495.3 cr boosted by higher other income and lower provisions. NII rose 18.4% to Rs 925.14 cr. Estimated figures for profit and NII were Rs 498 cr and 945 cr respectively. Gross NPA fell to 0.81% from 1.05% q-o-q while net NPA stood at 0.31% as against 0.32%.

TCS reported 0.8% q-o-q fall in dollar revenue at $3900 mn. In rupee terms, revenues fell 1.1% to Rs 24220 cr, EBIT fell 0.5% to Rs 6591 cr while net profit (adjusted for one-time employee bonus) rose 8.4% to Rs 5906 cr supported by higher other income. In constant currency terms, revenues were up 1.6%, lower than estimates.

OUTLOOK

Today morning Shanghai and Hang Seng are up about 2% and 0.7% respectively, other Asian markets are trading flat to modestly lower and SGX Nifty is suggesting about 10 points lower opening for our market.

In yesterday's report we had mentioned that a sustained trading below 8722, the low made on Wednesday, would generate a sell on the hourly chart and would pave the way for the further fall till about 8625, which is the 38.2% retracement level of the 8269-8845 upmove.

The benchmark broke 8722 level and plunged all the way to 8645, but rebounded later to close at 8706.

8825 continues to be immediate support below which 8560, the 50% retracement level of the 8269-8845 upmove, would be the next target. Immediate resistance on the hourly chart is placed around 8770, with the stop loss of which short positions can be held on to.

Reliance Industries will report its quarterly earnings. The company is expected to report its best ever quarterly profit at Rs 6000 cr, up from Rs 5085 cr in December quarter supported by higher Gross Refining Margin which are likely to shot up to $9.9/barrel from $7.3/bbl.

India's trade data for March would be released today and is expected to come in between $ 8-11 bn.