A directional week AHEAD  

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What happened yesterday?             

Indian Market

Indian indices settled marginally lower on Friday after the country's central bank kept its interest rate unchanged at 6.5% and reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points.

The Reserve Bank of India's CRR cut is expected to boost the banking system's liquidity, however, the markets remained weak as the regulator downgraded the country's growth forecast for fiscal 2025 to 6.6%.

• At the close, the BSE Sensex fell 56.74 points, or 0.1%, to 81,709.12, while the NSE Nifty 50 slipped 30.60 points, or also 0.1%, to 24,677.80.

• Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone ADANIPORTS topped the losers on Friday, sliding 2%, followed by Cipla CIPLA and Bharti Airtel BHARTIARTL were the top laggards.

• Conversely, Tata Motors TATAMOTORS, Bajaj Auto (NSE:BAJAJ/AUTO, BAJAJ_AUTO) and Axis Bank AXISBANK were the gainers.

• In corporate news, Adani Wilmar AWL appointed Shrikant Kanhere as deputy chief executive officer in addition to his current role as chief financial officer, according to a Friday filing with the stock exchanges.

• Meanwhile, car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India MARUTI plans to raise the prices of its cars to up to 4% from January 2025, according to a Friday filing with the bourses.

FII net SOLD for -1830.31     crores

DII net BOUGHT for +1659.06     crores

US Market

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite closed at all-time highs Friday as official data showed the economy added more jobs than projected in November.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.8% to 19,859.8, while the S&P 500 gained 0.3% to 6,090.3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 44,642.5. Consumer discretionary led the gainers among sectors, while energy saw the biggest drop.

For the week, the Nasdaq jumped 3.3%, while the S&P 500 increased 1%. The Dow dropped 0.6%

• In economic news, total nonfarm payrolls in the US climbed by 227,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The consensus was for a 220,000 increase, according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from October's 4.1%, which was the market view for last month.

• The Federal Reserve is still expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points Dec. 18, though policymakers are expected to "proceed more cautiously in 2025 and skip cutting rates in January," Oxford Economics said.

• Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said the Federal Open Market Committee is likely at or near the point where "it makes sense" to slow the pace of monetary policy easing. "Moving slowly will allow us to calibrate policy to the appropriately restrictive level over time given the underlying strength in the economy," Hammack said.

• US consumer sentiment reached the highest level in seven months, while year-ahead inflation expectations hit the highest reading in six months, preliminary December results from the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers showed.

• The US two-year yield fell 4.8 basis points to 4.1% Friday, while the 10-year rate dropped 3.3 basis points to 4.15%.

• In company news, Lululemon Athletica LULU shares jumped nearly 16%, the best performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The athletic apparel and footwear company late Thursday logged stronger-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results as it benefitted from momentum in international markets.

• Ulta Beauty ULTA was among the top gainers on the S&P 500 Friday, up 9%. The beauty retailer late Thursday delivered a fiscal third-quarter beat.

• UnitedHealth Group UNH shares fell 5.1%, the steepest decline on the Dow and the S&P 500.

• Cooper Cos. COO was the second-worst performer on the S&P 500, down 4.4%, after the company's fiscal 2025 outlook fell short of Wall Street's views late Thursday.

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 1.7% to $67.17 a barrel Friday.

• "Oil fell with concerns over weak demand taking center stage after the (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies) delayed planned supply increases and extended significant output cuts until the end of 2026," D.A. Davidson said in a note to clients.

• Gold rose 0.2% to $2,653.50 per troy ounce, while silver lost 0.2% to $31.49 per ounce.

What to expect today?

• Asian market trading mixed where Japan in +0.27% and Hong Kong -0.03%
  US Futures trading  at -0.01%

• GIFT NIFTY trading  at +0.01%, up by +3.5 points

• All factors indicating a flat opening in the market.

NIFTY Technicals

In NIFTY nearest high amount of PUT OI at 24,500 and CALL OI at 25,000 and PCR stays at 0.89 and monthly at 1.22. NIFTY FUT and BANKNIFTY FUT both indicating LONG BUILDUP.

We keep upside view in NIFTY until 24295.55 isn't broken.

INDIA VIX falls to 14.4250

 All the best for the day.