Markets may see profit-booking today

18 Aug 2022 , 08:45 AM

Indian markets may see some profit booking today. Cues coming from international equity markets are negative. Asian markets have mostly opened in the red today. US markets closed in the red yesterday. Minutes of the most recent meeting of Federal Reserve show that it found evidence of US economy slowing down further because of its interest rate hikes. This has raised the expectation that future interest rate hikes by the US central bank will be smaller. Dollar strengthened further yesterday.  Depreciation in rupee today against the dollar will act as a dampener for market sentiments.

US markets saw a day of profit booking yesterday. Dow Jones lost 170 points. Nasdaq fell for 3rd day in a row, down by over 165 points. Bond yields rose after Federal Reserve minutes of the meeting came out, to hit 2.86%. US dollar also moved higher to hit 106.65 level.

Asian markets have opened in the red led by the Japanese "Nikkei' , which is trading lower by over 330 points in early trade. Both the South Korean & Taiwan markets are also trading lower as profit booking is being seen in most Asian indices. Chinese technology stocks will see action as most listed internet Companies in the US are seeing selling pressure. 

Nifty saw another super day with the index almost hitting 18000 as foreign flows continued to improve sentiments. Mid caps led the rally. The feeling of missing out is getting larger every day with foreign investors now buying aggressively even as markets look heavily over-bought. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC LIFE & Hero Motors led the gainers. Profit booking was seen in large cap auto stocks like M&M, Maruti & Tata Motors.

Technical View: Nifty likely to find support at around 17560 while 18050 is likely to act as resistance on the upside. Bank Nifty likely to find support at around 39000 while 39700 is likely to act as resistance.

TRADING call (1-2 days) :BUY Ashok Leyland August future at 148-149. Stop loss: 145.45. Target: 151.5

Derivative call- time period (1 month): BUY DLF August future at 380-381. Stop loss: 372.85. Target: 388.5