Key developments that will drive the markets this week

24 Apr 2022 , 01:39 PM

Domestic markets in the last week traded volatile and fell nearly one and a half per cent amid mixed cues and also weak earnings from Infosys and HDFC Bank dragged the indices lower. However, the benchmark tried to recoup losses in the middle, hawkish statements from US Fed again turned the table in the favour of bears. Finally, both Nifty and Sensex ended lower by 1.3% and 1.7% to close at 17,171.9 and 57,197 levels, respectively.

In the coming week as well due to the scheduled expiry of April month derivatives contracts. Besides, global cues like the Russia-Ukraine crisis, China’s COVID situation, and the performance of the global indices will continue to weigh on the sentiment.

On the earnings front, some prominent companies like Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, Ultratech Cement, and Wipro will announce their numbers during the week along with several others.

Let us look at the key developments this week.

Q4 earnings in focus

Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Vedanta, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki India Bajaj Finance, Wipro, HDFC Life Insurance Company, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Asset Management Company, Bajaj Finserv, SBI Life Insurance Company, and UltraTech Cement will declare results in this week.

Yes Bank, KPIT Technologies, Macrotech Developers, Century Textiles, GMDC, Mahindra CIE Automotive, Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, AU Small Finance Bank, Nippon Life India Asset Management, Tata Coffee, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), United Breweries, UTI Asset Management Company, Indian Hotels, Persistent Systems, Syngene International, Trent, Ambuja Cements, Biocon, IndiaMART InterMESH, Laurus Labs, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Mphasis, Varun Beverages, HFCL, L&T Finance Holdings, SBI Cards and Payment Services, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, Tanla Platforms, and Tata Chemicals are the fourth-quarter earnings will be announced in this week.

Covid cases cross 2,500-mark for the second straight day in India:

According to the health ministry on Sunday reported that in India the daily Covid-19 cases crossed the 2,500-mark for the second straight day with an addition of 794 new cases. The number of active cases in India rose to 15,873 on Saturday. The share of active cases in the total confirmed cases so far also went up in the last 24 hours and stood at 0.04 per cent.

Maharashtra on Saturday reported 194 fresh Covid-19 cases, the highest rise in one day after March 25. One fatality was also reported, taking the death toll to 1,47,832, a health official said.

FII and DII updates:

Continue for the seventh consecutive month, FIIs have net sold more than Rs18,400 crore worth of shares during the week while DIIs have been trying hard to compensate for the FII outflow by buying nearly Rs14,400 crore worth of shares in the same week.

Ahead of May April sales number:

Automobile companies will declare their monthly sales number for the month of April on May 1, Thursday. Eicher Motors, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor Company, Escorts and M&M will be in focus for this week.

Forex Reserves decline for 6th straight week:

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on Friday, India’s foreign exchange (FX) reserves declined for the sixth straight week, by $311 million in the April 15 reported week to $603.694 billion. Reserves in gold rose by $626 billion to $43.145 billion, while the special drawing rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell by $44 million to $18.694 billion.

U.S. Markets bleed on Friday:

U.S. markets end the week in the red with the S&P 500 tumbled 2.8%, marking its second-worst day of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average wiped out 980 points on its worst day since October 2020 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite crashed 2.6%.

Meanwhile, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield remained at 2.9%, the highest level since December 2018.