NIFTY RESISTED AT 9367 HURDLE; 9250-9225 CONTINUES TO BE SUPPORT

NIFTY RESISTED AT 9367 HURDLE; 9250-9225 CONTINUES TO BE SUPPORT

WORLD MARKETS                             

Dow ended marginally in the red while S & P 500 and Nasdaq were marginally higher amidst sharp fall in oil and ahead of Friday's jobs data.

WTI crude plunged 4.8% to $45.52 a barrel, hitting a five-month low and Brent fell 5% to $48.26 after data showed crude oil stocks fell 930,000 barrels, compared with the 2.3 million barrel drop that was expected, leaving inventories just 7 million barrels short of the record high.

The House passed the bill aimed at repealing and replacing Obamacare by a vote of 217 to 213 after months of struggling to win enough support to move it forward.

Jobless claims fell by 19,000 to 238,000, while productivity for the first quarter fell more than expected. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $43.7 billion. Factory orders rose less than expected in March.

European markets gained 0.2%-2% after being buoyed by corporate earnings and a televised political debate which saw centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron maintaining his lead on eurosceptic opponent Marine Le Pen ahead of this Sunday's French election. France's CAC 40 hit its highest level since January 2008, while Germany's DAX closed at a fresh record high.

AT HOME

After a positive start, benchmark indices gave away most of the gains in morning session only to recoup all of them in noon to end with gains in excess of half a percent with Nifty closing at record high. Sensex added 231 points to settle at 30126 while Nifty finished at 9360, up 48 points. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices gained half a percent each. BSE Bankex soared 2.3%, becoming top gainers among the sectoral indices, followed by 1.4% rise in Consumer Durable and Finance indices. Realty and Metal indices lost 0.8% each, becoming top losers.

FIIs net sold stocks and index futures worth Rs 601 cr and 439 cr respectively but net bought stock futures worth Rs 477 cr. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 926 cr.

Rupee ended unchanged at 64.3650/$.

HDFC reported 21.6% y-o-y fall but 20.2% q-o-q growth in net profit at RS 2044 cr. Last year same quarter's profit included Rs 1513 on account of sale of stake in HDFC Standard Life. Income from operations rose 10% y-o-y to Rs 8453 cr. Net interest income rose 26.5% to Rs 3123 cr. Gross NPA as a percentage of gross advances declined to 0.79% from 0.81% on sequential basis.

OUTLOOK

Today, Nikkei is shut while Shanghai and Hang Seng are down about half a percent. SGX Nifty is suggesting about 25 points lower start for our market.

While Nifty has been in a consolidation mode over last couple of days, we have been advising holding on to long positions with the stop-loss of 9250-9225, the regions where a gap, created last week, lands a support. We have also been saying that 9367, the top made last week, is the immediate hurdle, above which 9470 would be the next target to eye.

The benchmark touched a high of 9366 before closing at 9360 but is set to open lower today.

9367 continues to be immediate hurdle above which 9470 would be the next target as mentioned above.

9250-9225 continues to be immediate support area, with the stop-loss of which existing longs should be held on to.

Eicher Motors and Apollo Tyres will report their quarterly earnings today.

Key data to watch out today would be the US April non-farm payroll figure where addition of 185000 jobs is expected versus 98000 in March.