Volatile slide

Tracking last weekrsquos movement the markets mainly remained in the negative zone with weak Chinese data and falling oil prices The immediate support for Nifty lies 7184 below that may find support at 7000 and more Resistance lies at 7500 and 7627 but chances of testing the second resistance point are very remoteChinese slowdownOn the concerns of Chinese slowdown and on the sharp fall in crude oil prices the overseas investors remained sellers in the New Year According to the data available with the depositories the Foreign Portfolio Investors FPI infused a gross amount of Rs 36368 crore into the equity markets from January 1 to 15 and at the same time they pulled out Rs 39852 crore which resulted in the net flow of Rs 3483 crore USD 520 millionIn 2015 FPI infused a net amount of Rs 17806 crore in equities and R 45856 crore in bond marketsIMF downgradeLast week the international monetary fund downgraded its forecasts for the global growth on the back of slowing Chinese economy and falling oil prices The IMF forecasted that the world economy would grow at 34 per cent in 2016 and 36 per cent in 2017 both of which was down 02 per cent from the previous estimations The growth estimate for 2015 was retained at 31 per cent The Fund estimated the US growth at 26 per cent this year and next which was cut by 02 per cent eachChinese growth for the current and next year is maintained at 63 per cent and 6 per cent respectively On the other hand the growth forecasts for India was left unchanged at 75 per cent each for both yearsDeficit surgeThe countryrsquos trade deficit widened in the month of December as the gold import rose According to data released by the commerce department the trade deficit rose to 117 billion in December 2015 compared to 91 billion in a year ago period In the period under review gold imports hit a fourmonth high of Rs 38 billion The countryrsquos export contracted for the 13th month in a row falling about 15 per cent to 222 billion on the back of the decline in the engineering and petroleum shipments The imports were also down 388 per cent to 3396 billion in December on year on year basisThe cumulative exports during the April to December period declined by 1806 per cent 1966 billion whereas the imports also fell by 1587 per cent to 2958 billion On the back of lower operating costs and higher sales Ultratech cement reported a 37 per cent rise in its consolidated net profitThe net profit of the company stood at Rs 54592 crore as compared to Rs 400 crore in a year ago period For the October to December period the total income of the company stood at Rs 618791 crore against R 594447 crore during the same period last year The firm is a part of Aditya Birla Group which is the largest cement company in the countryGlobal concernOn the global front Chinese data remained in focus where the economy grew at its weakest pace in a quarter of a century last year The data however ignited the hopes of more stimuli from the central bank The tumbling oil prices also played its role for the carnage in the marketsBusiness confidence consumer confidence economic sentiment inflation and core inflation will be in focus for the Euro area in the coming week Balance of trade unemployment rate inflation rate industrial production and Bank of Japanrsquos meeting are the triggers in the Japanese marketsThis week companies like Intellect Eveready Cosmo films HDFC Bank SKS micro Blue star co HT media Tata Coffee HDFC HEG Titan TRF Asian tiles Century Ply ICICI bank LampT JSW Steel Philip Carbon GIC Housing GAEL Care rating and NTPC may announce their earningsCrude outlook is slightly positive due to oversold situation support at 2970 per barrel and resistances at 3250Disclaimer No financial information whatsoever published anywhere in this newspaper should be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities or as advice to do so in any way whatsoever All matter published here is for educational and information purposes only and under no circumstances should be used for actual trading or making investment decisions