Market Ahead, October 12: Top factors that could guide markets this week

Key stock market indices jumped more than 4 per cent last week in their longest winning run in almost a year. The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 4.68 per cent while Nifty gained 4.35 per cent last week.

Investors will now turn their focus on quarterly earnings. A total of 70 companies including major IT firms like Wipro, Mindtree, HCL Tech, and Infosys are scheduled to announce their numbers for the September quarter results this week. Apart from the headline numbers, the guidance ahead will also be keenly watched.

Apart from this, macroeconomic data, global trends, and stock-specific action would be eyed while markets would also track rupee movement and Covid-19 cases. In terms of macro data, the industrial production data for August and CPI inflation for September will be released today, while WPI inflation for September will be announced on Wednesday.

Investors will also closely look out for updates on a second round of US stimulus or further stimulus package back home. They will also keenly await the Supreme Court verdict in the loan moratorium case tomorrow, which will be crucial for the fate of banks. In an affidavit on Saturday, the RBI said that it is not possible to give more relief to sectors affected by Covid-19.

In the primary market, shares of UTI Asset Management Company and Mazagon Dock will list at the bourses today. State-owned defence major Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders had fixed issue price at Rs 145 per share after the issue received a hefty 157 times subscription while UTI Asset Management Company fixed the issue price at Rs 554 per share after receiving a rather tepid response.

In the Covid front, with a single-day spike of 74,535 infections, India's Covid-19 tally mounted to 71.19 lakh on Sunday, while the death toll climbed to over 1 lakh 9 thousand. However, India’s recovery rate continues to rise and now stands at 85.5 per cent.

And, now let's have a quick look at the trade setup for today.

The main Wall Street closed higher on Friday. Dow Jones rose 0.57 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.88 per cent, and the Nasdaq added 1.4 per cent.

Asian stock markets began the week with cautious gains on Monday, as investors clung to hopes for US stimulus spending. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 per cent in early trade. Australia’s ASX 200 was 0.2 per cent higher and Kospi gained 0.33 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.3 per cent.

SGX Nifty is indicating an open above 12,000 for the Nifty today. At 7:30 AM, the SGX Nifty was trading 40-odd points higher, indicating a green start to today's session.

Besides, the GST Council is scheduled to meet today to resume discussion on the borrowing options for the State and Union Territories to meet the shortfall in GST compensation.

Vedanta is expected to trade actively today after the company said that the delisting offer is deemed to have failed. The post offer public announcement by the company said that 125.47 crore shares were validly tendered by public shareholders. For successful delisting of shares, 134.12 crore shares needed to have been validly tendered.