Markets next week: Focus on Adani stocks, auto sales, Federal Open Market Committee's statement

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 30 : With the corporates' earnings going on strong and the prevailing weaker dollar, domestic investors would be monitoring the statement of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in the US, which will come out on May 3. There is a possibility of the announcement of policy rate hike.

Investors' sentiments across the world by and large will be influenced by the FOMC meeting outcome. It is expected that the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce its interest rate decision on May 4.

After the statement of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is out next week, the macroeconomic numbers will keep the market mood subdued in the near term.

Apart from Ad Group firms, which came out with a statement on Saturday, investors' eyes will also be on auto sales figures of the country. In another development, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) urged the Supreme Court to extend the time to conclude the probe in the Hindenburg Research report on the Ad Group by a period of six months. In addition to this, NDTV's earnings are expected during the week.

The Indian equity markets are constantly receiving funding from foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

During April, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) made their highest buying of 2023 amounting to Rs 11,631 crore in Indian equities. This would be the second consecutive month where FPIs are buyers. As per the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) data, FPIs purchased equities worth Rs 11,631 crore in April 2023.

On Friday, the markets ended the week with a bang. Nifty 50 briefly stumbling in the morning, it quickly regained and went past ahead to settle above the covered 18,000 level. NSE sectoral indices were mostly in the green, with only Nifty Consumer Durables index failing to ride the wave of gains.

Technically, Nifty is in bullish momentum. It closed above 18000 levels in the last trading session, where 18100-18200 is an immediate target zone. Above 18200 levels, 18350 will be the next target level. On the downside, 17860 and 17820 will act as immediate support levels.

According to BSE, market breadth was strong, with 2,242 shares rising and 1,255 shares falling. A total of 132 shares remained unchanged. The India VIX, which gauges the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tumbled 4.17 per cent to 10.95 on the NSE.

Pravesh Gour, senior technical analyst, Swastika Investmart, said, "Sensex and Nifty rose more than 2.5 per cent each to post their biggest weekly gains in nine months after advancing in all five consecutive sessions. The Nifty staged a remarkable return and finished above 18000 levels after touching a low of 17,612 at the beginning of the week."

He said all sectoral indices record weekly gains this week, while the volatility index falls 5 per cent. PSU Bank & Realty gained the most amongst indices, with 7.33 per cent and 5.1 per cent, respectively.

Gour said, "...the Indian equity markets are constantly receiving funding from FIIs, and Friday's record buying of Rs 3,304 crore in the cash market showed their confidence in the Indian market."

He added, "In the domestic market, Q4 (fourth quarters) earnings and auto sales numbers will drive the market next week. Kotak Bank, Tata Steel, Titan, Hero Motocorp, and HDFC are the few Nifty 50 compes that will declare their financial results next week."

Speaking on the gains made by Sensex and Nifty, Arvinder Singh Nanda, Senior Vice-President, Master Capital Services, said, "Benchmark indices end at over two-month high. Nifty gain for the fifth and Sensex for seven consecutive sessions. This week Nifty and Sensex rose by 2.02 per cent and 2.06 per cent. All the sectoral indices advanced this week with PSU Bank and Realty Index gaining the most."

On compes' earnings, Arvinder Singh Nanda said, "The results announced this week were a mixed bag. Banks posted good Q4FY23 (fourth quarters) numbers, but the net interest margins of the bank seem to be peaking out, while cement compes' margins continued to be on the weaker side, FMCG company's volume growth still continues to be under pressure as Inflation impacts rural and urban demand."

"Textile compes have seen a sharp rebound in operating margins sequentially in Q4FY23, as cotton raw material prices and Freight has fallen to pre-Covid levels," he said.

Talking along the lines of challenges, Arvinder Singh Nanda, "In the monthly review of March, the Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) stated that the Indian economy faces risks such as a slowdown in the global economy, geopolitical development, El Nino effect on the farm output and financial tightening going ahead."

He said, "On the global front, US initial jobless claims came at 2,30,000 as compared to 2,46,000 in the previous week. US GDP in Q1 slows to 1.1 per cent as the higher Interest Rate by Fed (Federal Reserve) in the last 1.5 years has impacted the demand and the housing market witnessed a slowdown in the US."

Arvinder Singh Nanda said, "Market sentiments turned positive again as Nifty resumed its gaining streak after a one-week pause. Prices increased by nearly 2.5 per cent to settle the week at 18065, crossing above their key psychological level of the 18000 mark."

He added a similar trend could be seen in Bank Nifty also as a major component of the index was positioning on the verge of an upside breakout.