Indian Market May Remain Volatile This Week Amid F&O

The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty continued the bull run during the week and ended above the 29,000-mark and 8,800-level respectively, also marking the all-time highs for both the indices on the ECB announcement, and the past week's positive cues such as healthy industrial output numbers, slower inflation and the surprise rate cut by the apex bank.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 1,156.95 points or 4.11% to settle at 29,278.84 and the Nifty jumped 321.80 points or 3.77% to settle at 8,835.60 during the week ended Jan 23. Powered by buying across the board the indices also recorded their best weekly gain in eight months. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.58%. The BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.49%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The U.S. stock market ended Monday’s choppy trading session with tiny gains after the first weekly gain for equities in 2015, as investors weigh corporate earnings, mergers, and the implications of an election victory in Greece by a party opposed to that country's bailout plan. The Dow Jones industrial average rose six points, or 0.03%, to close at 17,678 on Monday. The S&P 500 index edged up five points, or 0.3%, to 2,057. The Nasdaq composite rose 13 points, 0.3%, to 4,771.

On Today, the Federal Reserve is expected to kick off a two-day policy meeting. Investors will likely be eyeing the results of the gathering for clues on the central bank’s outlook for rate increases, though investors aren’t expecting market-shaking announcements.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, U.S. crude wavered before closing down 44 cents, or 1%, at USD 45.15 a barrel, and gold futures shed USD 13.20, or 0.1%, to USD 1,279.40 an ounce.

European markets closed higher Monday, despite opening the session lower, as investors digested news that anti-austerity party Syriza won a general election in Greece on Sunday. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 index ended around 0.5 percent higher after fluctuating earlier in the session. Athens’ main stock index initially slumped by nearly 5%, and was down 3.2% at the close. Germany's DAX gained 1.4% to 10,798.33 and France's CAC 40 added 0.7% to 4675.13. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 6852.40. The euro bounced back, rising 0.4% to $1.1246 after trading at its lowest since 2003.

Asian stocks rose, with the regional index headed for a two-month high. Japan’s Topix index climbed 1.2% as the yen extended yesterday’s 0.6% slide against the greenback. South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.4%. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.5%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index increased 0.55% as trading resumed following yesterday’s holiday. China’s stocks fell for the first time in six days, led by financial and commodity companies, after industrial profits slumped last month. The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.3%.

SGX Nifty is trading in positive and higher by 39 points. This week, Indian market may remain volatile ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday, 29 January 2015. Maruti Suzuki, Idea, Amara Raja Batteries, Eveready, Godrej Properties, GSFC, Titan, Orbit Export would be reporting third quarter earnings today.