Previous Week : BSE Sensex settled at 16831.08 points while the NSE Nifty closed at 5086.85
Domestic equity benchmarks plummeted to the lowest level since January 30 as bears wrecked havoc on the street in Friday's trade. The holiday shortened week saw the indices attempt a small pullback in the first couple of sessions which proved short lived as bears were in firm control in the next couple of trading sessions. The first week of May saw the indices shave off more than 2% with bulk of the decline coming in the Friday's session itself.
  • The 30 share BSE Sensex settled at 16831.08 down by 356.30 points or 2.07%, while the NSE Nifty closed at 5086.85, down by 122.20 points or 2.34% for the week
  • Capital Goods, Auto, Banking, Power and Metal stocks were the major draggers in the index during previous week
  • Bharti Q4FY12 results were below our and street expectations. HUL earnings beat analyst estimates. Bank of India numbers beat our and street expectations by a wide margin while Oriental bank of Commerce announced a disappointing set of numbers
  • Eight core industries' growth rate slowed down to 2 % in March as against 6.5% in the same month last year on account of contraction in crude oil and natural gas sectors
  • During fiscal 2011-12, the core industries grew by 4.3% compared to 6.6% in 2010-11
  • India's imports rose 24.3% (YoY basis) to $ 42.6 billion while exports fell 5.7% to $28.7 billion for the month of March. Trade deficit was $13.9 billion
  • Nymex crude closed at US$102/ barrel declining 2.2% on a weekly basis (as on Thursday)

Week Ahead : Key data to watch globally would be MBA mortgage applications
The Nifty finally breached the broad trading range of over two months on the down side which led to increased selling pressure towards mid session in Friday's trade. In the process it also closed below the critical support of the 200 day moving average (DMA) which was well fortified by the bulls in the entire corrective decline since February 2012 highs
  • In the entire corrective phase since Feb highs, the index had overdone the time wise correction while price wise it had retraced roughly 38.2% of the rally from 4531 to 5630
  • After the Friday's weak close below the 200 DMA the index appears set to resume the price wise correction of the preceding rally.Therefore a meaningful price correction to the extent of 61.8% Fibonacci retracement projects downside towards 4950 levels over the coming weeks
  • The maximum extent of retracements in the whole price decline of past one year has been to the extent of 75-80%, while the last leg of decline was retraced by 61.8%
  • On the higher side, pullback attempts towards the recent support area of 5180-5200 are likely to face fresh selling pressure as the said support is likely to reverse its role as a resistance
  • Whereas the downward sloping trendline joining the highs since March 2012 provides resistance near 5280 levels
  • In April 2012, FIIs and MFs were net sellers to the tune of 476 crore and 539 crore
  • Key data to watch globally would be MBA mortgage applications, Initial Jobless claims and trade balance
  • In India, events to watch would be IIP numbers (to be released on Friday). Key results to watch out next week would be NTPC, HDFC, IDFC, Hindalco, Banking majors Canara Bank and PNB, Pharma majors Lupin, Cadila Health Care, Cipla, Ranbaxy and Dr Reddys