While Nifty is trading below its 200 DMA Bank Nifty has just managed to close above its 200 DMA. It is going to be tight rope walk today as the bulls and the bears grapple it out. IndiaVix the fear index surged almost 21% in a year. SGX Nifty at the time of writing this report is 19 points in the green at 17239.
The bull side of the story
The bulls have got a booster shot after the Fed announced measures to instil confidence post the debacle of Silicon Valley Bank. The US market has become extremely volatile as bears are trying their best to throw the bulls out of the ring. The market is hopeful that post SVB bailout the Fed may pause the interest rate hike. It is difficult for the Fed not to hike rates but it is hardly any choice. The bull-bear bout has only increased the volatility as the Dow Yo-yo’s 600 points making the investors seek other asset classes like gold and bonds. Gold and silver are up 2.5% and 6.7% respectively.
On the stock front, most of the Apple, Alphabet, Tesla, Amazon.com, Netflix, and Meta Platforms were in the green while writing this report.
Local factors
India government wants to discourage the settlement of Russian oil as well as discounted coal in Chinese Yuan due to political tension with China. It has asked its banks and traders to settle it United Arab Emirates dirhams instead government officials in the know quoted.
Sugar mills export 3.78M tonnes of sweetener till March 9 of 2022-23 mkt year ending September. Sugar stocks to remain in focus.
Stocks to watch
Krsnaa Diagnostics has operationalised 100 more Pathology Collection Centers to provide services of Lab Investigation facilities under Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Chikitsa for BMC Dispensaries and Hospitals in Mumbai. The Company has operationalized 300 Pathology collection centres as of date.
Surya Roshni has bagged orders worth Rs 96.39 crore for the supply of 3LPE Coated steel pipes from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited for City Gas Distribution (CGD) projects in three geographical areas in the state of Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The order is to be executed within 8.5 months.
BL Kashyap and Sons has bagged new orders from domestic unrelated clients aggregating to Rs 158 crore. This includes the construction of the Business Park Campus at Bengaluru worth Rs 89 crore. and construction of a residential complex in Bengaluru worth Rs 69 crore. These projects are expected to be completed within 24 months. The current order book of the company stands at Rs 2,089 crore.
The bear-case
Most of the regional banks were hammered fearing a contagion effect. The KBW regional banking index slid 11.66% while the S&P 500 banking index fell 9.34%. The bigger bank like Wells Fargo was down 7% while Bank of America was also down by almost 6%. A major portion of the regional banks deposits are uninsured and the crisis is seen as a fallout of the Fed’s tightening policy.
Who will win this bout is the question
The bears are sensing that the bull charge may be short-lived and eventually the bears will steer it their way. Only time will tell who will win until then the bears and bulls will continue to clash it out.
