Trade Setup For April 8: Can Nifty Head Towards 22,850?

Despite global skittishness, markets will begin the week with a positive momentum given the strength in the broader market.

Bank stocks are leading the way despite negative foreign institutional flows, and information technology commentary for FY25 will be the most important statistic to note this week.

Further, pharma stocks and active pharmaceutical ingredient companies in particular are in strong uptrend.

Till Nifty holds 20 exponential moving average zone of 22,200-22,250, the index can witness further momentum up to the 22,700-22,850 zone, according to Sudeep Shah, head of technical and derivatives research at SBI Securities.

Outperformance could be witnessed in Bank Nifty where the support zone is at 48,000 now and till it holds can move up to 49,000-49,200, Shah said. "Within banking and IT, we feel banking is better placed to take the lead from hereon compared to the IT space."

Shah is bullish on realty, metals and public sector undertaking banks. While the last 10 sessions have witnessed an uninterrupted run in mid-cap and small-cap indices, Shah prefers quality midcaps ahead of smallcap stocks.

The GIFT Nifty was trading 21 points or 0.09% lower at 22,653 as of 07:11 a.m. on Monday.

Overseas investors turned net buyers on Friday after four days of selling.

Foreign portfolio investors mopped up stocks worth Rs 1,659.3 crore and domestic institutional investors remained net sellers for the second day and offloaded equities worth Rs 3,370.4 crore, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

India's benchmark stock indices erased earlier losses to close little changed on Friday, led by gains in rate-sensitive realty and banking stocks after the Reserve Bank of India kept the rate unchanged at policy. This helped the indices clock their third weekly gain.

The NSE Nifty 50 settled 10.85 points, or 0.048%, higher at 22,525.50, and the S&P BSE Sensex gained 20.59 points, or 0.028%, to end at 74,248.22.

The NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.84%, and the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.81% in the week ended on April 5.

On NSE, 11 out of 12 sectors ended higher this week, and one declined. The NSE Nifty Media was the top performer, while the NSE Nifty FMCG index was the worst performer among its peers.

• Bajaj Finance: Bajaj Housing Finance is mandatorily required to list by Sept. 30, 2025. The company's board will undertake discussions with respect to the mandatory listing requirement, including considering various options based on the prevailing market conditions, at its meeting scheduled on April 24, 2024.

• Wipro: The IT major appointed Srinivas Pallia as its new chief executive officer and managing director, following the resignation of Thierry Delaporte.

• JSW Energy: The company raised Rs 5,000 crore via qualified institutional placements at an issue price of Rs 485 per share. The issue price is at a 4.92% discount to the floor price of Rs 510.09 per share.

• Vodafone Idea: The company will raise Rs 2,075 crore via issuance of shares to Oriana Investments. The telecom company will issue 139.5 crore shares at Rs 14.87 per share.

Citi On Wipro After CEO Change

• Citi maintains ‘sell’ and sees valuations at 21 times one-year forward EPS.

• Wipro has seen several CEO changes to revive revenue growth, but it’s still work in progress.

• Investors will eagerly await the new CEO’s communication on Wipro’s priorities.

• Large-deal wins have been an area where Wipro seems to lag TCS and Infosys.

• Capital allocation is a is a key focus area, as Wipro’s 40–50% payout is significantly lower than TCS and Infosys.

Citi Upgrades Info Edge, Sees 17% Upside

• Citi upgraded Info Edge (India) to 'buy', and raised the target price to Rs 6,650 with a 17% potential upside.

• Recruitment business billings were up 7% YoY in Q4 and likely bottomed out.

• Raise core business Ebitda estimates an increase of 8% for both FY25 and FY26E.

• Expect lower Ebitda losses across non-recruitment verticals on YoY basis.

• The bulk of recruitment billing recovery will translate to revenue acceleration from FY25E.

• Strong Q4, decent FY24 in the recruitment business indicate resilience against a challenging IT service hiring environment.

• Sees tailwinds for core business: sustained recovery in recruitment billings growth, Ebitda breakeven in non-recruitment.

Citi On Nykaa's Q4 Update

• Citi reiterates 'sell' on FSN E-Commerce Ventures, with a price target of Rs 140.

• The brokerage sees resilient BPC and resurging fashion, so watch margins.

• Management commentary suggests lower brand-funded discounts quarter-on-quarter and higher ad-revenue year-on-year growth respectively.

• Expect BPC contribution margins to improve over 180 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 25.6% of NSV, down 250 basis points year-on-year.

• For fashion, expect sustained improvement in contribution margins at over 290 bps quarter-on-quarter to 8.9%.

• Expect overall revenue growth of 28.5%.

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region were up in early trade on Monday following Wall Street's positive weekly close as jobs print indicated a strong U.S. economy.

The KOSPI was trading 0.08% higher at 2,716, and the NIKKEI was trading 1.18% higher at 39,450 as of 6:20 a.m. Stock market in China will reopen after a two-day holiday.

U.S. stocks ended the week on a higher note after a blowout jobs report signalled the US economy will continue to power Corporate America, Bloomberg reported.

The S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite ended 1.11% and 1.24% up respectively, on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average settled 0.80% higher.

Brent crude was trading 1.78% lower at $89.55 a barrel. Gold was down 0.94% to $2,307.75 per ounce.

The GIFT nifty was trading 52.5 points or 0.23% lower at 22674 as of 06:30 a.m.

The Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Friday after the RBI's monetary policy committee kept the benchmark repo rate unchanged for the seventh time in a row.

The local currency appreciated 16 paise to close at Rs 83.29 against the greenback. It had closed at 83.45 on Thursday, according to Bloomberg data.