The war between the bulls and bears will continue this week due to the expiry of monthly futures and options contracts and the continuation of the corporate earnings.
On Monday the market is expected to react to the Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank quarterly results that were released during the weekend.
Markets last week
The market almost reversed its previous week's gains and snapped the three-week winning streak. In addition to this the possibility of a 25 bps hike by the Federal Reserve in the next policy meeting, RBI's concern over inflation and the fear of recession in the US made the investors nervous and pulled the market down. Sensex in the last week slipped 1.28 per cent to 59,655 and Nifty shed 1.14 per cent to 17,624. In contrast the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices rose seven-tenth of a per cent and a third of a per cent, respectively.
Corporate Earnings
The corporate earnings will pick up this coming week with close to 200 companies announcing the quarterly results. IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC Bank, IDBI Bank, RBL Bank Nestle, Bajaj Auto, UltraTech Cement, HDFC AMC, Maruti Suzuki India, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra and Hindustan Unilever will be announcing the quarterly results this week. The list also includes Poonawalla Fincorp, AU Small Finance Bank, ACC, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, Voltas, LTIMindtree and M&M Financial services.
March Fiscal deficit numbers
The fiscal deficit numbers for March and the financial year 2022-23 will be announced on April 28. The fiscal deficit for April-February 2023 was at Rs 14.54 lakh crore, widening from Rs 13.17 during the same period in the previous fiscal. This accounted for close to 82.8 per cent of the set target for the financial year 2023.
US GDP growth rate
The traders will largely be waiting for the US GDP growth estimates for the first quarter of this fiscal that is expected to be released on Thursday. According to experts, the US growth rate for the January-March period is expected to drop from 2.6 per cent reported in the October-December quarter of the last fiscal.
Europe GDP Growth
Along with the US, Europe will also be revealing its GDP Growth Flash. The data is to be released on Friday along with the Bank of Japan's Interest Rate decision.
Oil Prices
Crude oil prices declined in the last week since the banking crisis in mid-March with Brent Crude futures falling by over 5 per cent and closing at $81.66 a barrel. This was due to the demand outlook fears despite the encouraging Chinese GDP figures.
IPO
Mankind Pharma is expected to hit Dalal Street next week with over Rs 4,300 crore public issue. The offer will open on Tuesday and close on Thursday. The company has set its IPO price band at Rs 1,026-1,080 per share.
