It’s a flat start for our markets amidst muted global cues. The Nifty is hovering around 23,300. The Sensex is trading in the green around the 76,800 levels after briefly touching the 77,000 levels. The key losers on the Index include Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto while Apollo Hospitals, HDFC Bank, HDFC Life, Power Grid and ITC are among the top gainers.
The broader markets, small and midcaps outperform, clocking nearly 1% gains.
Stocks in news
Key stocks in news, Gensol Engineering hits lower circuit and is down 5%. IndusInd Bank meanwhile is up over 1%. That apart OREDA is up 6% after delivering 49% YoY jump in Q4 profit. Swiggy is up over 1% after the fast food delivery platfor partnered with the Ministry of Labour & Employment to promote job creation in the gig and logistics sectors.
Key Nifty levels to watch, big sectors to bet now
Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments highlighted that , “A significant take away from the recent market trend is the resilience of many domestic consumption bluechips. Stocks like Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Indigo Airlines and Eicher Motors are at 52-week highs. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank are resilient while IT stocks are weak. The market is sending the message that domestic consumption themes will be safer than externally-linked segments during this chaotic global environment.”
Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities added that “On the daily charts, the market continues to display an uptrend formation, indicating potential for further gains from current levels. We believe the current market environment is bullish; however, due to temporary overbought conditions, we may see some profit booking at higher levels. Buy Nifty between 23100-23200 levels and keep a stop loss below 23000 on a closing basis.”
Volatility gauge
The Volatility Index or the VIX is down 2% indicating that the investors are significantly less apprehensive. Typically the Volatility Index is a measure of fear on the street. The Index had shot up nearly 60% in the first week of Aprilwhen the global markets sold off in response to the Tariff uncertainties.
Asian markets in the red
The Asian markets are in the red as investors assess the impact of Tariff on the economy even as China reported first-quarter GDP growth of 5.4%, bettering analyst estimates and indicating that growth momentum continues amid tariff worries.
Meanwhile JPMorgan has released a report stating that the intensified tariff war between the US and China is expected to have a minimal impact on the revenues of Chinese internet companies, primarily through secondary and tertiary effects. According to JPMorgan, some Chinese internet stocks may even countercyclical. Overall, the bank believes that the impact of the tariff war on China’s online consumption can be largely disregarded, with an estimated effect of less than 0.5%.
US Futures slide
Meanwhile Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures slide about a percent each after Nvidia said it will post a $5.5 billion quarterly charge with respect to exporting the H20 graphics processing units to China.
FIIs net sellers in April so far
In a surprise break away from the trend, FIIs bought equities worth Rs 6,065 crore in Indian markets on April 15. However, for the month, FIIs are still net sellers with outflows amounting to Rs 28,576 crore. They sold the most on April 7 when Indian markets saw massive selloff in sync with the global rout as a result of the Trump tariff and FIIs dumped over Rs 9000 crore in a single session.