Indian Stock Market Eyes First Quarter Results, Budget, Global Cues In This Week

As the week gone by saw Indian stock markets touching fresh all-time highs and at the same time volatile trading days, the market is likely to see stock specific moves gain traction on the back of the ongoing earning season, as per the market analysts.

Earlier, the benchmark indices moved higher as the Friday session progressed and in the process touched a fresh high. The market was triggered by the latest moderation in US inflation, better-than-expected TCS results, and lack of negative market fundamentals.

Observing the market trends, Vinod Nair, Head of Research, at Geojit Financial Services said, "We expect stock-specific moves to gain traction due to the ongoing earnings season; indeed, IT will be in the limelight due to the good start to the earnings and outlook. The good progress in the monsoon and expectations of an uptick in volumes aided FMCG stocks to outperform the main indices. In the week ahead, economic data like China GDP, EuroZone CPI inflation, ECB policy, and the US Fed chair speech will be watched carefully by investors to get cues on market momentum."

Sensex and Nifty have cumulatively accumulated 11-13 per cent returns so far in 2024-25. Strong buys by both foreign and domestic institutional buyers also have been supporting the stock markets.

Sensex closed over 600 points or 0.8 per cent higher at 80,519 points, whereas Nifty closed 186 points or 0.8 per cent higher at 24,502 points. Sectoral indices were mixed on Friday last week.

The Indian stock market is closed on 17 July due to the festival of Muharram.

As per the market watchers the upcoming budget session scheduled from July 23, will deliver further incentives, including investments and capital expenditure for sectors such as Railways, Defence, Shipbuilding, Power Financing, and Industrial sectors.

"As the budget session approaches, the market is optimistic that the government will maintain its focus on infrastructure, defence, railways, and green energy. As of now, the market is not factoring in any negative surprises in the form of income tax changes, LTCG, STCG, STT, etc. Any changes in these areas will have a short-term negative impact on the market," Krishna Appala, Sr. Research Analyst at Capitalmind Research said.

The market participants will actively monitor the policy decisions of the new government.

Observing the trend of profit booking which is adding to the volatility in the market, Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management said, "The current phase of volatility cannot be ruled out as profit booking may continue ahead of the Budget, that will provide more clarity on the policy continuity."

Recommending a cautious approach, Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking said, "We recommend traders continue with a 'buy on dips' approach, focusing on stock selection and trade management. Besides domestic factors, participants should closely monitor global indices, especially the US markets, for cues."

As the companies have started revealing their first quarter results the specific sectoral stocks are showing fresh highs. IT saw a fresh rally and was up 4 per cent after TCS reported inline numbers.

"IT sector is expected to be in focus as other IT majors will come out with results. On Monday, markets will react to India's inflation data which will be released post-market. Key results next week include Jio Financials, HDFC Life, Asian Paints, LTI Mindtree, Infosys, Havells, Wipro, JSW Steel, Paytm, etc. Also globally, investors will take cues from China's Q2GDP numbers, US Core Retail Sales data, and ECB interest rate decisions," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.(ANI)