Cautious start!

"Things that are done, it is needless to speak about; things that are past it is needless to blame." - Confucius. What led to Friday’s freaky afternoon fall remains largely a mystery with the NSE swearing by the robustness of its systems. The sudden and swift selloff could not prevent the Indian indices from notching modest gains though. Another big event on Friday was the RIL’s Q4 earnings. While the headline PAT figure was in line with estimates, the problems for the energy and petrochemicals major are far from over. The RIL stock could remain under pressure for a while till there are visible signs of improvement in core business. The start today is likely to be more or less flattish. Asian markets are mostly trending lower, despite IMF bolstering its firepower for dealing with unforeseen accidents. Sentiment might improve after China’s so-called ‘flash’ manufacturing PMI climbed in April from March. However, the key gauge still shows contraction. FOMC policy meet and US GDP data will be closely watched along with other global data points. For India, FII flows will be an important driving force besides F&O expiry and corporate results. The broader trend still remains uncertain with the trading range getting extended to 5200-5400. A breakout is needed in order to ascertain near-term direction. Till then the outlook remains cautious. Key Results Today: Alstom Projects, BOC India, Coromandel International, Geometric, M&M Financial, Noida Toll, Rallis India, Tata Sponge, TCS and Ultratech Cement. Trend in FII flows: The FIIs were net buyers of Rs 3.14bn in the cash segment on Friday while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of 1.34bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE. The FIIs were net sellers of Rs 2.40bn in the F&O segment on Friday, according to the provisional NSE data. The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs 682mn in the cash segment on Thursday, according to the SEBI figures. Global Data Watch: Australia PPI, China flash manufacturing PMI, Japan leading economic index, UK nationwide housing prices, Germany flash manufacturing and services PMI and Eurozone flash manufacturing and services PMI.