Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India. Indian markets could open flat to mildly higher in line with mixed Asian markets today and despite negative US markets on Friday, said Deepak Jasani, Head-Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities said, "the benchmark Indices are expected to open on flat note as suggested by trends on SGX Nifty. Both European and US markets closed in red. Asian markets are giving mixed cues."
The market is likely to be in consolidation zone in this week after a good rally from December lows. Investor sentiments remains strong, but the rapid rise in COVID cases followed by increasing speculations regarding US interest rate hikes has created uncertainty regarding the sustainability of markets at current levels, Nigam said. Good Q3 results from market leaders and strong sentiment regarding the forthcoming budget can act as good triggers for the market.
On the technical front, the key resistance levels for Nifty 50 are 17,910 followed by 18,000 and on the downside 17,710 followed by 17,610 can act as strong support. Key resistance and support levels for Bank Nifty are 38,100 and 37,400 respectively, Nigam added.
Nifty opened gap-up on January 7 and rose till 10:45 hours. At close, Nifty was up 0.38 percent or 66.8 points at 17,812.7.
Nifty logged the best week in 4 months rising 2.6 percent. On daily charts, the Nifty however has formed a long legged doji with slightly upward bias. Volume pickup and positive advance decline ratio portend well for the near term. 17,944-17,655 could be the range for the Nifty in the near-term.
Asian shares subdued
Asian share markets were muted on Monday as investors count down to another US inflation reading (US CPI on Wednesday) that could well set the seal on an early rate hike from the Federal Reserve, lifting bond yields and punishing tech stocks.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 percent, while South Korea lost 1.0 percent. Chinese blue chips were little changed as recent policy easing was balanced by lingering concerns over the property sector.
US stocks close lower
US stocks ended lower Friday, in a turbulent session that concluded with all three major benchmarks suffering weekly declines, following a monthly jobs report whose headline figure came in far below economists’ estimates. For the week, Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.5 percent, its sharpest weekly decline since February 26.
In parsing the Labor Department report, investors appeared to conclude that the monthly employment update won’t derail the Federal Reserve’s intention to wind down accommodative policies and eventually hike rates to combat inflation in 2022.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 3.6 basis points Friday to 1.769 percent for the biggest weekly gain (27 bps) since September 2019 - pressuring growth stocks and bolstering financials.
US economy adds fewer jobs in December
On Friday, the Labor Department reported the US economy added far fewer jobs in December than expected. The non-farm payrolls report showed an increase of 199,000 in December, though economists had expected growth of 422,000, according to Dow Jones.
While the headline number disappointed, there were some things in this jobs report that pointed to an improving economic picture and higher inflation. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.6 percent, above expectations. And the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent, the lowest level since February 2020 and well below the 4.1 percent expected.
Dollar index flat
The dollar index was flat at 95.764, after falling 0.5 percent on Friday, but has support at 95.568. The euro bounced to $1.1354, leaving it near the top of the recent $1.1184/1.1382 trading range. The Japanese yen got a break from its recent bear run to stand at 115.64, as the dollar faded from last week's 116.34 peak.
Oil prices up
Oil prices eased in early trade, having climbed 5% last week helped in part by supply disruptions from the unrest in Kazakhstan and outages in Libya. Brent fell 28 cents to $81.47 a barrel, while US crude lost 36 cents to $78.54.
India GDP likely to grow 9.2% in FY22
India's GDP will likely grow 9.2 percent in FY22, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The expansion of the Indian economy, as per the statistics ministry's first advance estimate of GDP for 2021-22 released on January 7, is lower than the forecast of 9.5 percent by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Stocks under F&O ban on NSE
Two stocks – Delta Corp and RBL Bank – are under the F&O ban for January 10.
(With additional inputs from Reuters, agencies)
