Weekly Snap Shot !!!.... W-o-W, while the Sensex lost 3.83%, the Nifty lost 3.63% over the same period

After rising smartly last week, the week gone by saw the Sensex/Nifty attempting to move higher. They however found resistance at the 17004/5099 levels and slid lower. The selling pressure intensified in the last two sessions of the week as the bears got the upper hand. W-o-W, while the Sensex lost 3.83%, the Nifty lost 3.63% over the same period. Market breadth was negative in two out of the four trading sessions of the week.

Key events

Global Markets

U.S. government reported that the number of people filing for initial unemployment benefits fell to a 9-month low of 381,000 in the latest week.

European Central Bank took steps to revive the ailing European economy and ease credit conditions for troubled eurozone banks. But ECB president Mario Draghi offered no indication that he is willing to intervene aggressively in the bond market, stressing that the onus is on European governments to resolve the debt crisis. The European statistics agency, Eurostat, estimated that eurozone economy grew 0.2% in the third quarter. S&P said it might also cut the AAA rating of Europe's bailout fund. The fund needs that top rating to cheaply raise money, and losing it would mean it would cost billions more to fund bailouts.

Indian Markets

India's exports grew by 33.2% to $192.7 billion in the April-November period of the 2011-12 financial year. The country's imports also rose by 30.2% to $309.5 billion during the period, leaving a trade gap of $116.8 billion.

India's manufacturing sector expansion slowed in November as factory output grew at its slowest pace in nearly three years although export demand should provide some cheer for factories. HSBC Markit India Manufacturing PMI fell to 51.0 from 52.0 in October, but has stayed above the 50 mark that divides growth from contraction for 32 months.

Food inflation declined to 8% in the week ended November 19 from 9.01% in the preceding week. Inflation in the Primary Articles group fell to 7.74% in the week under review, from 9.08%. Inflation in the Fuel & Power group stood at 15.53% in the week ended November 19 versus 15.49% in the previous week.

India's services sector expanded in November for the first time in two months as new business accelerated despite persistent inflationary pressures. HSBC Markit Business Activity Index -- based on a survey of around 400 firms -- stood at 53.2 in November.

Key Sectoral Movement

All the sectoral indices except IT ended in the red. IT gained marginally by 0.1%. The top losers were Capital Goods, Realty, Oil & Gas and Metals, which fell by 5.4%, 4.8%, 4.6% and 4.5% respectively.

Outlook of the week

With the Indian markets drifting down this week, the upmove seen last week seems to have been negated. Traders will now need to watch if the Nifty can hold above the supports of 4755. Else, a further sell-off can be seen.

Source-hdfcsec