SGX Nifty hints at positive start for Dalal Street; 5 things to know before today’s opening bell

The post-budget rally on Dalal Street has now extended to its fourth day. S&P BSE Sensex, after opening in the red, soared higher to close with gains yesterday as it breached 50,600 mark and ended above it for the first time ever. The broader 50-stock NSE Nifty is just shy of 14,900, from where it could test 15,000, according to technical analysts. On Friday morning, SGX Nifty was up 50 points, followed by the run-up on Wall Street, hinting at a gap-up start for equity markets. 

Global watch: NASDAQ closed 1.23% higher on Thursday, followed by a 1% jump in Dow Jones and S&P 500 each. Among Asian peers, the trend was similar. Shanghai Composite was up nearly half a per cent while Hang Seng gained 1%. Stock markets in Japan and South Korea were up in the green as well.

Technical take: On the charts, a small positive candle was formed with minor lower shadow, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities. “The short term trend of Nifty continues to be positive. Present close above the long term trend line resistance of around 14800 levels could eventually have further positive impact on the market in near term,” he added.

Levels to watch out for: Analysts believe that the trend is positive for now but minor intra-day correction can not be ruled out. “For the trend following traders 14800/50425 should be the sacrosanct level to watch. Trading below the same we can expect quick correction up to 14750-14700/50000-49810. On the flip side, 14900/50800 would be the immediate hurdle for the day traders, above the same we could expect further uptrend till 15000-15035 /51300-51650,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities.

FII and DII: Foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers of domestic securities worth Rs 1,936 crore on Thursday. It was on the index options front that FIIs pumped in the most money — Rs 6,706 crore. Domestic Institutional Investors were net sellers again, this time pulling away Rs 768 crore. 

RBI MPC: The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee is set to announce the outcome of their deliberations today. After the Finance Minister declared the government’s borrowing plan, yields have been unsteady and now focus will shift to Shaktikanta Das and the central bank to calm the nerves of bond traders.