Week Ahead

The BSE Sensex corrected 1,142 points or 1.96 percent to close the week at 57,197, and the Nifty50 fell 304 points or 1.74 percent to 17,172, but the broader markets smartly outpaced benchmarks as the Nifty Midcap 100 index gained 3.6 percent and Smallcap 100 index rose 2.7 percent.

The volatility that we have been witnessing for the last several sessions is expected to continue in the coming week too because of the scheduled expiry of April futures and options contracts, and given that we are in the corporate earnings season, stock-specific action is likely to be seen, apart from continued focus on the Ukraine war, COVID situation in China and global market performance.

More than 160 companies will release their quarterly earnings scorecard next week with majority of them from the mid-cap and the small-cap segments. Big names like Bajaj Finance, HDFC Life Insurance Company, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Asset Management Company, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, SBI Life Insurance Company, Vedanta, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, UltraTech Cement, and Wipro will declare results.

Technically Nifty50 has formed bearish candle on the daily charts on Friday and saw Long-legged Doji kind of pattern formation on the weekly scale, as the index fell more than 1 percent and nearly 2 percent respectively. The index due to value buying and short covering rebounded smartly from recent lows of 16,800 and held on to 16,800 as well as 17,000 levels at the closing of week, hence both the levels could act as crucial support levels in coming days, whereas 17,400-17,500 could be resistance area.