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| Edited By: Yogesh Vinod Mehta |Source: DNA |Updated: Apr 15, 2019, 05:15 AM IST
Post conquering for the seven straight weekly gains, rally in Nifty halted last week, closing at 11643 with a minor cut of 23 points, or 0.19%. The midcap index lost 0.43% while the small-cap gauge gained 0.81%.
On the sectoral front, gainers were Auto (+2.50%), FMCG (+2.22%), Pharma (+1.67%) while the Metal sector lost 1.94% and Private banks lost 0.50%. Bank Nifty ended with a cut of 0.50% for the second straight week underperforming the broader Nifty. For the week, the foreign institutional investors (FII) were buyers and tuned in Rs 4,350 crore while the domestic institutional investors (DII) sold equities worth Rs 884 crore.
In the last week highlights, internationally crude prices spiked by 3.45% to $71.62 per barrel, highest in five months post-production cut announced by oil producer countries. IMF slashed 2019 global growth outlook from 3.5% to 3% and the much debated Brexit has been pushed further by six months. World Bank projected India's GDP to expand 7.5% in FY20 and 7.2% in FY19. Growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) plummeted to a 20-month low of 0.1% in Feb'19 way lower than consensus of 2%. CPI inflation increased to a five-month high of 2.9% YoY in Mar'19 from 2.6% a month ago, primarily attributed to the rise in food prices. Corporate earnings season kick-started with IT bellwethers Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announcing their Q4'19 results post market hours on Friday.
The key global events to look for this week include March WPI inflation and trade balance data which will be declared today. Globally, China January-March quarter GDP data on Tuesday, Opec meet scheduled on Wednesday and the US March retail sales data will be released on Thursday.
Indian markets are closed on Wednesday and Friday observing Mahaveer Jayanti and Good Friday. In the ongoing result season Wipro (Tuesday), Mindtree (Wednesday), DCB Bank, Reliance, RBL bank (Friday) and HDFC Bank will declare Q4'19 results on Saturday.
Last week, the 50-share index consolidated in the range of 11550-11710, forming a hammer like a pattern on weekly charts which suggest further consolidation. The Nifty is consolidating in this range for the last 11 sessions, bulls need to defend this level if it were to re-test the all-time high level of 11760. Nifty likely to remain in the range of 11550-11760 as markets may react to the IIP data and IT companies results. Further Opec meeting outcome can set the tone for the markets further with result based stock specific action.
The writer is VP-retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services
