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After a firm start led by favourable global cues, the markets have lost ground as trade progressed. The S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty slipped to 28,272 and 8,585 levels after touching an intra-day high of 28,367 and 8,619 respectively. The BSE midcap index is at 10798, higher by 0.4% and the smallcap index is at 11239, up 0.8%.
Technical analysts suggest that since the Nifty has managed to surpass the resistance the of 8,550 levels, it is a bullish signal. "The index has managed to hold the crucial support of 8,450 levels and bounced sharply and has formed a short-term bottom. One should maintain a positive bias in the near-term for an upside target of 8,700 & 8,750 levels," says Vikas Salunkhe, a technical analyst with Nirmal Bang in a morning note.
Among individual stocks, Sun Pharma gained 3% at Rs 1,115 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in morning trade after the company merged Ranbaxy Laboratories within itself. Trading in Ranbaxy Laboratories shares has been suspended from today as the swap ratio of Ranbaxy - Sun Pharma comes into force.
SENSEX STOCKS
The pharma stocks continue to attract investor attention. Sun Pharma has zoomed by 3.2% at Rs 1113 to top the gainer's list on the BSE and Dr. Reddy's has gained by 1.5% at Rs 3,580. Among the other gainers, M&M and ONGC has added between 1% and 2% each.
On the loser's side, HDFC has shed 1.4% at Rs 1314. BHEL and Wipro has lost a per cent each at Rs 623 and Rs 229 respectively.
BROADER MARKETS
In the midcap space, DCM Shriram has zoomed by 6.3% at Rs 119, Aban Offshore has gained 5.4% at Rs 452 and Ajanta Pharma has added 5.3% at Rs 1292. In the smallcap space, SML ISUZU has rocketed by 14% at Rs 1355, Zen Technologies has catapulted by 13% at Rs 63 and Ess Dee Aluminium has zoomed by 9% at Rs 948.
BROADER MARKETS
In the midcap space, DCM Shriram has zoomed by 6.3% at Rs 119, Aban Offshore has gained 5.4% at Rs 452 and Ajanta Pharma has added 5.3% at Rs 1292. In the smallcap space, SML ISUZU has rocketed by 14% at Rs 1355, Zen Technologies has catapulted by 13% at Rs 63 and Ess Dee Aluminium has zoomed by 9% at Rs 948.
RBI POLICY PREVIEW
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will announce the first bi-monthly Monetary Policy statement for 2015-16 on Tuesday, April 7, 2015. After the rate cut in March by 0.25% to 7.5% that that surprised the markets, analysts now expect the RBI to keep rates unchanged while reviewing the policy tomorrow.
"After cutting repo rate by a cumulative of 50 bps in Q4 FY15, we continue to expect the central bank to maintain status quo on monetary policy. While incremental legislative progress and favourable global developments argue for another round of rate cut in April, significant uncertainty on food inflation after the unseasonal rainfall in March warrants some caution," said Shubhada Rao, chief economist, YES Bank in a recent note.
"Going forward, we continue to expect the RBI to cut repo rate by 25 bps by June 2015 with the possibility of another 25 bps cut by September 2015 conditional on global commodity prices remaining subdued and south-west monsoon turning out favourable," she adds.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian markets opened higher after discouraging US jobs data signalled that the US Fed may not cut interest rates soon. However, profit taking at higher levels pared all the early gains with most markets in the region closed for trading today. Japanese shares were trading with marginal losses down 0.2% while Straits Times was trading flat with negative bias. Stock markets in Hong Kong and China are closed today
US markets snapped two day losing streak to end higher on Thursday ahead of the March jobs data due for release on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 65 points to 17,763, the S&P 500 gained 7 points to close at 2,066.96 and the Nasdaq Composite ended 7 points higher at 4,886.94. Further, the Labour Department on Friday said that 126,000 jobs were added in the March. The job additions were the smallest increase since December 2013.
