Making Sense

Follow your Playbook of trades !! USDINR trade has worked beautifully. Yesterday, we did get a sideways consolidation to initiate shorts for better part of the day. The next important support is 81.75 where profits can be booked on 75% of the position.  GQG Partners on Thursday announced the completion of USD 1.87 bn secondary equity transactions in the Adani portfolio companies.  Brokerage firm Citi estimates that the increase in free float in Adani Group companies will lead to inflows b/w usd 200 – 230 mn and the possibility of a change in weightage in MSCI's May review. Services PMI at a 12 year high The S&P Global India Services PMI expanded to a 12-year high of 59.4 in in the month of February ( prior 57.2 ) showing the best improvement in new business intakes in 12 years. Input cost inflation eased to a 23-month low, while output cost inflation slowed to a 12-month low.  In the recently concluded Assembly elections in North East – Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura...

 Meditate!!  The February ISM Manufacturing Index came in at 47.70 (prev 47.4). The reading reflected contraction in manufacturing activity for the 4 th straight month. However, what stood out in the report was the sharp increase in the Prices Index which jumped to 51.3 from 44.5 and the new orders index rose to 47.0 (prev 42.50). The activity contracted at a slower pace amid a backdrop of rising prices which adds to fears around Fed tightening. Comments from FOMC voting member   Neel Kashkari also pushed rates higher. “We’re not yet seeing much of a sign of our interest-rate increases slowing down the services sector of the economy and that is concerning to me,” he said. “Wage growth is at a level that it actually is too high to be consistent with our” 2% inflation target. He also said that if the Fed declares "victory too soon, there will be a flood of exuberance" and it will need to do even more work that if the Fed declares "victory too soon, there will be a flood...

We booked profits on our USDINR short position and stand neutral. The move lower in USDINR came alongside a surge in volume.  After the long consolidation between 82.60 - 82.90, reckon buyers got trapped and then the sharp move lower along with surge in volume suggests big unwinding of positions / initiation of fresh shorts. Yesterday, intraday volume data shows buying interests between the 82.50 - 82.60 zone. We are neutral on the pair ahead of the  CPI Data . Market is positioned for a peak in the CPI inflation numbers and the same can be seen in the lower US yields with 2Y back to price resistance at 4.20% yield and 5Y back to price resistance at 3.52% yield. Taking cues from offshore markets, India Gsec yields are also trading lower and OIS is also tad bit lower. 1Y OIS continues to be rangebound b/w 6.55% - 6.75% and 5Y OIS has seen multiple rejections at the 6.50% level with support coming in at 6.20%. We are neutral on forwards and OIS at the current levels. In another ...