MARKET PULSE:
Highlights:
Three up and two down days
Weekly Market Review:
India’s benchmark indices kept their momentum intact, as both the Nifty (+0.8%) and the Sensex (+0.7%) pocketed gains for the fourth straight week.
While we had two down days during the week, none of those qualified as distribution days. The Indian market condition remains unscathed at Confirmed Uptrend.
The week began on a strong footing, as frontline indices recovered from a gap-down opening to bring home decent gains of 0.3-0.5%. On Monday, the Indian market extended its winning streak to eight sessions snubbing Syria tensions.
Tuesday’s sombre session yielded small gains, allowing the bellwether indices to extend their winning run to nine sessions.
Profit booking in the second half of Wednesday’s session brought an end to the spectacular run by both Sensex and Nifty.
Buoyed by strength in metal and technology stocks, the Indian market made a good comeback in Thursday’s session.
Friday’s session did not have much to offer as both benchmark indices ended with miniscule losses. That said, a late recovery at the bourses did help both indices in limiting losses in a range-bound session.
Hawkish comments by the Reserve Bank of India in the minutes of its meeting hurt market sentiment, as fears of an interest rate hike kept bulls at bay.
One sector that remained unaffected by the RBI’s comments was technology. The week belonged to the IT sector, as market cheered strong results by Tata Consultancy Services and MindTree. Nifty IT gained 4.9% during the week, taking its YTD returns to 19.2%.
Other sector indices that had a strong week were Nifty Metal (+4.5%) and FMCG (+4.2%). On the flip side, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Energy tumbled 4.8% and 1.2%, respectively.
In the broader market, investors accumulated smaller names, sending the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices higher by 1.2% and 1.4%.
MarketSmith India’s IND 47 index, our proprietary list of top 47 stocks in chart and fundamental characteristics, gained 0.8%.
On the economic front, inflation continued to cool amid lower food prices. WPI inflation eased to 2.47% in March, the lowest reading in last seven months.
Talking about market direction, the market status remains unchanged at Confirmed Uptrend. Frontline indices continue to trade above their key resistance of 50-DMA. The action in leading stocks remains encouraging. We continue to see good quality stocks breaking out to new highs.
In the coming week, following events could serve as market movers:
-Q4 FY 2018 financial results for HDFC Bank, LIC Housing Finance, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Axis Bank and Yes Bank
Current Outlook:
– Market environment conducive for purchases, but remain selective.
– Focus on fundamentally strong stocks breaking out of strong technical patterns.
– Stay disciplined and exercise sound buy and sell rules.
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