Laurence Balanco of CLSA said support for the Nifty stood between the 4,000 and 4,100 level. “That level is a key support that dates back to the lows we saw in 2007-08,” Balanco said. “It’s also the breakaway gap that we saw post the elections. I think we will see a pullback and a test of that level. However, I would expect that level to hold in the short term.”
Here is a verbatim transcript of Laurence Balanco’s exclusive interview
Q: What’s your short-term outlook on what’s happening with the Sensex and the Nifty?
A: Looking at the Nifty, there is more risk towards the 4,090 level — that’s a key support level that dates back to the lows we saw in 2007-08. It’s also the breakaway gap that we saw post the elections, so the 4,000 level is an important psychological number. I think we will see a pullback and a test of that level. However, I would expect that level to hold in the short term.
Q: What about the global indices, the S&P closed below 900 yesterday after quite a while, any signs of a breakdown or you are reading it just as a re-tracement?
A: I am looking at a re-tracement at this level, the key technical level sits at 875 and that level dates back to the January and February peaks and also the lows that we saw in May. So that’s quite a significant level to look at. As long as S&P holds that level, I would still look for a move up to the 1,000 mark before we see the risk of a pullback towards 800. As long as 875 holds, the potential up-move to 1,000 is still valid.
Q: Corresponding with that, you think the Nifty might find support at 4,000-4,100 and pull back to take out its recent high of 4,600-ish, or is that being too optimistic?
A: The roadmap which we are looking towards the Nifty is the 4,200-4,100 area and the support level to hold and look for a retest of the peak — if not a move towards 5,000-5,500. India is one of the markets within Asia that we think has potential to at least take out new highs for the March lows. We have seen markets with similar structure like Taiwan, we have also seen that come back and follow up with a breakaway gap and we would look for those two markets to lead the recovery towards a new half or the March low. The key is that the S&P can hold 875, so those two markets look likely to retest the peaks at least.
Q: The doomsday scenario in the market’s mind is if the S&P were to go back to 666, even on a medium-term basis, how probable or improbable does that seem to you?
A: If you look at the longer-term structures, particularly for the US markets, I would still classify them as a secular bear market and if we go back to the basis of technical analysis, which started with the Dow theory, the sell signal that was in place from November 2007 is still in place. The recent rally that we have seen in the US had the Dow Jones Industrial making a high towards a January peak but the transports failed to confirm. I would still classify the US markets in a secular bear market. The other simple theory one can throw into the US is that talks about holding above the 200-day moving average (DMA) and the simple 200 DMA hasn’t changed direction to up. The 200 exponential moving average (EMA) has been a strong resistance with the S&P at 940. So the longer-term structure for the US markets is still bearish and the retest of those lows are probably but I think that happens in the next six months, probably not, but I think but what lies ahead for that market is the large sideways trading range that eventually lands up retesting those lows.
Q: Your thoughts on what’s been happening with crude and what kind of targets you see over there?
A: if we go back to December 2008 on the chart, the basic pattern developed below USD 50 per barrel and we broke above that in May and the minimum upside target that we are looking for that base break was between USD 71-76 per barrel. We think the biggest part of that move is now done and any rebound back towards USD 72-73 per barrel would be an opportunity to reduce exposure. The upside is quite limited at the levels we are looking at — above USD 70 per barrel.
Q: So net-net you are saying that this is not the big sell-off which people have been fearing after this massive rally, you are saying there is one more leg-up before any kind of a bigger correction seeps in globally and in India?
A: 875 is the key level we are watching on the S&P: if it holds, we would expect one more leg-up to mark the peak of this move for the Asian markets. For the October lows and for the developed markets are off the March lows would look at a seasonal weak pattern coming through into August-September. If that happens, then the pullback happens on lower volumes, one could start to get more interested in the market for another rally attempt but if we see a volume turnaround, I think the higher probable pattern over a six month period is a large trading range.
Q: What are you seeing on the charts of influential markets like Shanghai and Hang Seng as well which we take cues from?
A: The Hang Seng is testing quite a key support level at 17,500, if we do close below that level, this will trigger a minor double top pattern and that would suggest weakness down to 16,100. As far as the Shanghai market goes, that is still in an uptrend, the concern is that momentum continues to dissipate so each new high made by the Shanghai Composite is not being confirmed by those momentum indicators. We think that trend is quite mature and we would recommend taking some profits on the Shanghai Composite there.
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