Eye on stake sales, GDP figures in expiry week, say experts

The market, beset with global worries last week, will look to domestic indicators, such as corporate earnings and economic growth as it gears up for the expiry week, say experts.

The BSE Sensex closed at 19,704.33 points on Friday, registering a 2.8 per cent decline over the previous week, while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty closed at 5,983, partly on fears that the US Federal Reserve might soon reverse its bond-buying programme.

The market will also look to India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth number, to be released on Friday, a day after the expiry of derivative contracts for May. A rush of companies looking to meet a deadline for public shareholding will also be watched alongwith results, according to experts.

For the week ahead, investors are expecting a possible consolidation and range-bound movement within the 6,200 levels.

"Considering the expiry of futures and options contracts and prevalent chart formation, consolidation is likely within the broader range of 5,850-6,100 levels in this week," said Jayant Manglik, president-retail distribution, Religare Securities.

Agrees Shubham Agarwal, vice-president and senior analyst technical equities at Motilal Oswal Securities, who expects the Nifty to remain range-bound between the 5,950-6,200 levels. "The Nifty should hold support at 5,950 levels and will likely remain in the 5,950-6,200 levels for the next 15-20 days. After that, the Nifty could be seen touching highs of 6,350."

Meanwhile, GDP figures for the financial year ended on March 31, 2013 are expected to be around five per cent.

"Markets have reconciled to the five per cent figure. Anything reasonably below or above this mark will impact the markets. But for now, this has been factored in," said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, managing director and chief executive officer of Destimoney Securities.

Equity markets are expecting an infusion of nearly Rs 10,000 crore through share sales by companies looking to achieve compliance with the minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms, according to brokerage estimates.

The capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in August 2010, had asked companies to ensure that their MPS was maintained at 25 per cent.

Private companies are required to meet the norms by June 3, 2013, while public sector companies have to reach their target of 10 per cent MPS by August 9, 2013.

"There will be a mass scramble by those companies yet to meet the norms. It will predominantly be through the offer-for-sale route as there is no time for anything else," said Bandyopadhyay.

Key results will also be watched, according to market experts. Tata Motors and Oil and Natural Gas Corp will be some of the big names announcing their earnings numbers in the coming week.