Exciting Times Ahead On Positive Cues

The week gone by saw market trade with a positive bias, taking cues from the global markets and also waiting for an event to unfold. FIIs were seen buying Indian equities as the net buying figure stood at Rs.9628.52 crore for the previous seven trading sessions.

The DIIs however were net sellers to the tune of Rs.3856.83 crore, thus bucking the monthly trend where the DIIs have been consistently buying Indian equities. Clearly, the global markets outperformed Indian markets with CAC 40 managing to gain by more than 2.77 per cent, even as Sensex gained by 0.71 per cent if we consider the period between March 1 and March 10. Japan’s Nikkie was the second best performer, gaining by as much as 2.54 per cent followed by FTSE 100 and DAX which gained by 1.10 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively.

Dow Jones and S&P 500 were up over the same period by 0.44 per cent and 0.38 per cent, respectively. As far as Indian equities go, the broader markets underperformed in the first 10 days of the current month as Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were seen down by 1.38 per cent and 0.63 per cent, respectively. Auto stocks were the lead gainers, with the Auto index gaining 1.42 per cent.

Metal index dragged the markets and was down by 2.84 per cent, as some of the base metals saw price correction in the previous week. Realty and Power indices were seen dragging the markets down along with metal index. Realty index was down by 1.38 per cent while the Power index was down by 1.76 per cent IT and Banking indices gained by 0.78 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively, during the previous week, while the FMCG index shed some points to close down by 0.07 per cent.

The week ahead will be a huge week for market participants as the markets will open after a long weekend with an extremely positive news to trade on. BJP’s dominant win in the UP election paves the way for faster reforms in India and markets are expected to react extremely positively to this development. Punters are betting on Nifty to hit 9200 to 9300 levels this week. With so much of news to digest on the interest rate front, markets may trade volatile, albeit with a positive bias, even as the Chinese economy shows signs of improvement with little risk of a hard landing.

The budget announcement from the US President Donald Trump should also be keenly watched this week as the details on infrastructure spending will probably set the mood for markets in the coming trading sessions in global markets, along with the stances that the central banks in the US, UK and Japan adopt.