Mumbai, April 30
Global cues, especially the upcoming US Federal Reserve's rate-setting meet, are likely to chart the course of major domestic equity indices during the week starting May 2, 2017.
"US Fed speeches, FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) rate decision and jobs data shall mean that US equities' moves would be in focus next week," Anand James, Chief Market Strategist of Geojit Financial Services, told IANS.
Consequently, investors will remain cautious over the possibility of an interest rate hike during the FOMC meet.
A hike in the US interest rates can potentially drive away Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from emerging markets such as India.
Later in the week, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will report the latest US macro-statistic on non-farm payrolls.
Further, market observers termed rising global geo-political tensions, the ongoing fourth quarter (Q4) results' season and upcoming macro-data as other major themes for the trade week.
"Local liquidity, earnings and geopolitical risks would dominate the market sentiment," Devendra Nevgi, Chief Executive of Zyfin Advisors, told IANS.
"The markets would look for support from earnings and the signs of economic growth."
Companies like HDFC, MRF, ICICI Bank, L&T Finance, DHFL, HCC, Apollo Tyre and Marico are expected to announce their quarterly results in the coming trade week.
Apart from the quarterly results, market participants will track the monthly automobile sales figures and the PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) data.
"Auto sector's earnings being mixed, auto sales numbers will be closely followed, while PMI figures will shift focus to macros again," James observed.
Besides, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will release the Index of ECI (eight core industries) for April 2017 on May 2.
According to D.K. Aggarwal, Chairman and Managing Director, SMC Investments and Advisors, investments by foreign and domestic investors, and the movement of the rupee against the US dollar will also dictate the near-term trends of the domestic markets.
Figures from the National Securities Depository (NSDL) revealed that FPIs invested in equities worth Rs 1,262.68 crore, or $195.62 million, during April 24-28.
Provisional figures from the stock exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 1,925.39 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought scrip worth Rs 4,911.56 crore during the week.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar, appreciating by 36-37 paise to 64.24-25 from last week's close of 64.61.
On technical levels, analysts said that they expect the short term trend of Nifty to be choppy with a negative bias.
"Some more downward correction is likely by the early part of next week," Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.
"However this downward correction could be considered as a corrective phase in an uptrend and is unlikely to damage the broader uptrend of Nifty as per larger timeframe."
"Immediate supports to be watched for next week is around 9,230-9,200 points levels."
Last week, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE gained 553.1 points or 1.88 per cent to 29,918.40 points.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose by 184.65 points or 2.02 per cent to wind up the week's trade at 9,304.05 points.
(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at [email protected])
