In the coming holiday truncated week, Indian equity markets will remain closed on October 24 and 26 on account of Diwali. However, on October 24 between 6.15 pm and 7.15 pm a special Muhurat trading session would be held on the bourses. The pre-open will begin at 6:00 pm. The auspicious one-hour session will mark the beginning of the new Hindi year Samvat 2079. The coming week also will be crucial for local equity markets on account of the F&O expiry scheduled on October 27, 2020. Besides, the Foreign Exchange Reserves data will also be out on October 28.
Investors may also keep an eye on some important quarterly numbers to be released next week. Among the companies that will put out their quarterly results next week are Chennai Petroleum Corporation to report numbers on October 25, Dabur on October 26 and Indus Towers on October 27.
Also read: India may continue to outperform global markets in Samvat 2079: BT Digital Diwali Survey
Besides, PC Jeweller, PNB Housing Finance, SBI Cards and Payment Services and Tata Chemicals will come out with results on October 28. Blue Dart Express, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Maruti Suzuki, Vedanta, NTPC, and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will reveal their quarterly numbers on October 29.
Investment expert Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “Samvat 2079 will go down in India’s stock market history as the year of India’s outperformance relative to developed markets and peers. The big question as we usher in Samvat 2079 is whether this outperformance will continue. Even though India’s valuations are high from the short term perspective, economic and earnings fundamentals partly justify the valuation premium. More importantly, the DII/retail support to the market is becoming strong enough to eclipse the FII selling. This explains the logic of FIIs turning buyers (Rs 1,864 crores yesterday) when US bond yields are moving up and the 10-year yield is at 4.23 per cent.”
He added: “IT and banks account for the major chunk of India Inc’s profits. After good Q2 results from IT firms, leading banks are posting very good Q2 numbers indicating that corporate earnings are in line with the optimistic expectations. Q2 results of Axis Bank and ITC have beaten expectations. The PSU bank index has the potential to sustain its outperformance.”
Also read: Stocks, cryptos, gold & debt: How to invest Rs 10 lakhs, BT Digital Diwali Survey reveals
Market watcher Dr. Joseph Thomas, Head of Research at Emkay Wealth Management, said: “The domestic equity market moved very much in tandem with the movements in the global markets, especially the US markets. The rise in the Dollar Index, and the fall in the Japanese Yen, and the exit of the ruling Tory government were some of the developments which were of some import for the markets. The Rupee declined beyond the Rs 83 level against the US Dollar but the reported RBI intervention pushed the rate down below the crucial Rs 83 level. With the holiday season, most of the movements would continue to be determined by the overseas developments.”
On the global front, traders will be focusing on key economic data from the US, starting with the S&P Global Manufacturing, Services and Composite PMI data on October 24, followed by Redbook and Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index on October 25, Goods Trade Balance, New Home Sales and EIA Crude Oil Stocks on October 26, GDP Growth Rate and Initial Jobless Claims data on October 27, Personal Income and Baker Hughes Oil Rig Count on October 28.
Market veteran Mr Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said: “Nifty rose for the sixth consecutive session on October 21. Nifty opened gap up and rose in the morning session. It later corrected to form an intraday bottom at 1430 Hrs. A small recovery ensued and Nifty finally closed 0.07 per cent or 12.4 points higher at 17576.3. Among sectors, Banks were the main gainers while Capital Goods and Power indices fell the most. Broad market indices continued to underperform with Smallcap/Midcap index falling 0.60-0.75 per cent and the advance decline ratio coming in at 0.53:1.”
“Global markets have been extremely volatile as investors worry that hefty rate hikes will push major economies into recessions before inflation is tamed, while the resulting stronger dollar could wreak havoc in emerging markets. Nifty gained 2.27 per cent over the latest week after a negative previous week. The day on day gains however are laboured. We have a shortened week ahead of us. Nifty could make an attempt to reach 17838 on the up over the next few days while 17421 could provide support on down moves,” he added.
