This week in a nutshell (May 17th to May 21st)

Technical Talks

NIFTY opened the week on 17^th May at 14,756 and closed on 21^st May at 15,175. It made a weekly gain of 3%. The index is trading above its 10DMA of 14,913 which might act as a support. RSI 14 (60) and MACD turning upwards suggests a possible rally going ahead.

Weekly highlights

• India on Thursday cut sugar export subsidies by 31.4% for the current season which ends on Sept 30^th Higher sugar exports from India, also the world’s biggest consumer of the sweetener, will cut back large inventories at home and prop up domestic prices, which will help the country’s money-losing mills.
• New investment projects announced by private sector during the previous financial year fell by 68% on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. The announced projects, which represent an intention to invest, amounted to Rs 5,180 bn in FY21, the lowest since 2004-05 and down from the Rs 16,280 bn announced in FY20.
• India Inc’s investment abroad in the April-21 jumped by more than two times YoY to $2.51 billion, data from the Reserve Bank showed.
• The US Labor Department reported initial jobless claims fell to 444,000 in the week ended May 15. That was lower than the prior week’s 478,000 claims and economists’ forecasts for 460,000 new filings. This led the Wall Street higher.
• Gold is at the highest price in more than four months. Its claimed virtual rival, Bitcoin, steadied after a volatile cryptocurrency slump this week.
• Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in Indian equity of Rs 17,540 mn, against net selling of Rs 36,199 mn in the previous week. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net buyers of Rs 13,180 mn, against last week’s selling of Rs 18,170 mn.

                                                                       Things to watch out

• India reported 2.59 lakh new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the lowest daily count in one month. Declining covid cases and hope of lockdown being lifted by June/July in metro cities might lead the Indian market sentiment going forward.
• As the 4QFY21 result season is going on, companies’ results will be the key thing to watch out for.