Inflation data, Q3 earnings to drive the market this week: Experts

 

Stock market movement will be driven by the announcement of macroeconomic data points and quarterly earnings by various companies, including blue chips RIL and Wipro, say experts.

Market would also continue taking cues from the movement of rupee, crude oil and investment trend by foreign investors.

"The progress of Q3 results will dictate the trend for the market. For the week ahead CPI and WPI are the key data to be watchful," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Market participants, on Monday, may react to Infosys' December quarter earnings wherein the IT firm Friday reported a drop in its third-quarter net profit, they said.

India's second largest IT company reported a 30 per cent drop in its December quarter net profit on higher expenses even as it approved a Rs 8,260-crore share buyback -- the second in less than 13 months' time.

Its net profit slumped to Rs 3,610 crore in October-December 2018 from Rs 5,129 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Other major earnings this week are from RIL and Wipro.

On Monday, the market may also react to industrial output data data which was released post market hours on Friday.

Industrial output growth dropped to a 17-month low of 0.5 per cent in November on account of contraction in the manufacturing sector, particularly consumer and capital goods.

Factory output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 8.5 per cent in November 2017, as per data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

"Sharp rally in oil in the past few days and global cues continue to act as a major overhang on the markets," said Viral Berawala, CIO, Essel Mutual Fund.

Over the last week, the Sensex gained 314.74 points to close at 36,009.84 on Friday; while the Nifty rose by 67.60 points to end at 10,794.95.