Markets Live: Nifty hovers around 5300; Auto, pharma surge

A quiet start for Dalal Street on Thursday morning. Asian markets were trading mixed today. Lack of global and domestic cues to react for the Indian market as of now. It seems that the Nifty will trade in a narrow band today.

The Sensex was up 25.36 points or 0.15% at 17417.75, and the Nifty was up 15.95 points or 0.30% at 5315.95. About 525 shares advanced, 136 shares declined, and 2756 shares remain unchanged.

Top gainers on the Sensex: Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power, Hindalco and Sun Pharma were trading in green with handsome gains.

Top losers on the Sensex: DLF, ITC, BHEL, Larsen and Coal India were bleeding in red.

Broader Markets

In the midcap space, Bhushan, VST, Kirloskar Oil, Wockhardt and Bajaj Finserv were up 5-8%. Parsvnath, Schneider Electric, Manappuram Finance, 3M India and Alstom T&D were down 3-4%.

Global Wrap

The two day winning streak on Wall Street came to a halt as lackluster tech earnings and euro zone concerns dampened the mood. The three benchmarks lost close to 0.5% in trade, but the Dow is still above the 13,000 level.

European markets too closed lower, led by Spanish stocks which slipped on concerns about the health of the country's banking sector.

Stocks to Watch

Reliance Industries moves to Supreme Court for KG-D6 arbitration. The company seeks appointment of an arbitrator on behalf of Oil Ministry to solve the dispute.

Keep an eye on IGL today as it has challenged the decision of the PNGRB in the Delhi high court on authenticity of the order based on some parameters. The hearing is scheduled today at 10 am.

Subros has rallied whopping 51% in less than 15 days on buzz of stake sale to Denso, Suzuki.

Reports suggest that Nestle is in talks to buy Infant's nutrition business for USD 10 billion.

Tata Communication is out of the race for acquiring Cable & Wireless company.

Chart Formation

"The 200-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) and 20-day EMA (Exponential Moving Average) have now shifted to 17100 / 5150 and 17324 / 5271, respectively. The ‘20-Week EMA’ is placed at 17200 / 5200 level. We are witnessing a ‘Downward Sloping Trend Line’ breakout around 17400 / 5300 level. This move above 5300 can be construed as a breakout above the resistance zone and signals high probability of an upside move." says Angel Broking.

Nifty Intraday Strategy

ICICIdirect.com recommends traders to buy Nifty futures in the range of 5300-5305 with a targets of 5332. Keep a tight stop loss of 5290.

Rupee inching towards 52

The Indian rupee opened at 51.82 per dollar versus 51.78 yesterday. The dollar index against six major currencies was at 79.57, unchanged from the previous day’s close. ICICIdirect expects the US dollar to attract some buying on declines against the INR. Utilise the lows in the US$/INR April contract to buy.

How to trade commodities today

Edelweiss Research recommends three trading strategies for today.

Buy MCX Gold June above Rs 28650, stoploss Rs 28520, target Rs 28850.

Buy MCX Nickel Zinc April around Rs 103, stoploss Rs 102, target Rs 104.5

Buy MCX Crude Oil April around Rs 5315, stoploss Rs 5290, target Rs 5360

F&O cues:
Total Puts adds 23 lakh shares, Total Calls adds 9 lakh shares
5400 call, 5200 put and 5000 put have the highest buildup in OI
5200 put adds 6 lakh (8.5%) shares in OI prem down 24%
5400 call adds 2.4 lakh (3.3%) shares in OI prem down 15%
5000 put adds 3.4 lakh (5.7%) shares in OI prem down 32%
5300 put adds 4.5 lakh (10.4%) shares in OI prem down 15%
5600 call adds 3.5 lakh (6.5%) shares in OI prem down 44%
5500 call adds 2 lakh (3.7%) shares in OI prem down 32%
Total Nifty Futures added 8.8 lakh shares in OI
Stock Futures adds 2.9 Cr shares in OI
Nifty PCR rose to 1.12 from 1.11
Nifty Apr Futures are trading at 22.7 points premium v/s 29.9 points premium to Spot
India VIX closed at 20.03 down by 1.38%