Markets have a mind of their own and the five trading sessions last week were of a different kind. How markets change color almost every day, just beats me. On Monday and Tuesday, markets opened with an upside gap and closed upwards but the difference between the opening and the closing was very small. Effectively, volatility saw intraday movement drop many notches. Wednesday was a quiet day. Thursday was April futures expiry day. It began like any other day of the previous week, on a quiet day and then saw very sharp upward movement in the last hour of the day. NIFTY on Thursday gained 168 points on a net basis and 265 points from the low of the day. Friday was the complete opposite, where markets lost through the day and were down 151 points on a net basis and were down 235 points from the high of the day to the close. At the end of five different days of the week, BSESENSEX gained on four of the five trading sessions and lost on one. BSESENSEX was up 641.83 points or 0.88% to close at 73,790.16 points, while NIFTY gained 272.95 points or 1.23% to close at 22,419.95 points. The broader markets saw BSE100, BSE200 and BSE500 gain 1.53%, 1.85% and 2.10% respectively. BSEMIDCAP was up 3.96% while BSESMALLCAP was up 3.97%. 

The India Rupee gained 13 paisa or 0.0.16% to close at 83.34 to the US Dollar. Dow Jones gained on three of the five sessions and lost on two. At the end of the week, Dow was up 253.26 points or 0.67% to close at 39,239.66 points. 

The 18,000 crores follow-on -offer from Vodafone Idea Limited was well received by investors and was oversubscribed. The QIB portion was subscribed 19.31 times, HNI portion was subscribed 4.54 times and Retail portion was subscribed 1.01 times. Overall, the issue was subscribed 6.56 times. Shares issued through the FPO listed on Thursday, the 25th of April. The previous day’s close (Wednesday) was Rupees 13.09. The discovered price was Rupees 12 and the closing price was Rupees 13.89 on listing day. The share gained Rupees 2.89 from issue price or 26.27%. The share gained a tad on Friday and closed at Rupees 14.01, up 3.01 or 27.36%. 

There is a roadshow of Indegene Limited which will tap the capital markets with its fresh issue for Rs 760 crores and an offer for sale of 3,62,91,497 shares as per DRHP.  The price band, date of issue opening and closing and the size of the OFS would be announced through a newspaper advertisement. The roadshow would be held in Mumbai on Monday, the 29th of April. 

Results season is on and we have not had spectacular results from the few that have declared results so far. One is waiting for it to happen so that leads can be taken and investors look at opportunities which exist in the marketplace. 

Two of the seven rounds of voting for the general elections have been completed. The third round would be held on 7th of May. Results would be declared on 4th of June. 

April futures expired on Thursday, the 24th of April on a very buoyant and positive note. The NIFTY April series gained 243.45 points or 1.09% to close at 21,570.35 points. To put things in perspective, the gains on Thursday, which was expiry day, were at 167 points. The first day of the new series of May, saw NIFTY lose 151 points on the very first day. Call it by any name, the bulls won the war and the series on Thursday and lost it on Friday.

Coming to the markets in the week ahead, we have a trading holiday on Wednesday the 1st of May. There would be a holiday in most of the global markets as well. However, the week would be divided into two equal halves of two days duration each, making markets that much more volatile. Levels of 75,124 points, which was the previous tops and 22,775 would be very strong resistances. On the support side, lows made last week at 71,816 points and 21,777 points would act as strong supports. If these are violated, then one could see markets slipping to 71,100 and to 21,550 points respectively.  

The trading strategy for the week ahead would be to trade on the long side with extreme caution on account of the mid-week holiday. Buy on strong dip and sell on any strong rallies would be the order of the day. Markets are yet trying to establish a comfortable trading zone for themselves. 

Trade cautiously.