RBI Monetary Policy & Q3 results in focus

In the last session, the bulls scored a hat-trick of gains and reclaimed the 12,000 mark on Nifty. On Thursday, the pitch is firm for the bulls to bat on and extend its upmove for the fourth straight day as global cues are cheerful. However, SGX Nifty in the early trend is indicating a cautious start ahead of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee’s policy outcome. Consensus on the street is that the RBI may hold the repo rate and if possible, maintain the stance as ‘accommodative’, however, the central bank’s commentary on the growth outlook and inflation going-forward holds the key. Apart from RBI Monetary Policy, the focus of investors would be on the earning as key stock such as Hero Motocorp, Bata India, IGL, Auro Pharma, Lupin, Sun Pharma salted to report their Q3 earnings today.

It’s a sea of green for Asian equities on Thursday as the overnight Wall Street enjoyed a robust close further adding to the bullish sentiment is a report that researchers are cusp of finding a treatment for Coronavirus. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading a good 1.78 per cent, higher than its previous close and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has jumped 1.02 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite was up by 0.04 per cent.  

Back home, the key benchmark indices extended its upmove for the third straight day on Wednesday and reclaimed their key psychological level 12,050 (Nifty) and 41,100 (Sensex). The sentiment on D-Street remained upbeat as India’s Services PMI in January rose at a fastest rate in seven years. In the broader markets, Nifty Mid-cap and Nifty Small-cap advanced 1.18 and 0.77 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, barring Nifty Media, all the indices ended in a positive territory. Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty were the top gainers.

In overnight development, it was a stellar day for the major US stock market indices as Dow Jones zoomed past key psychological 29,000 mark, while Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended the session at new record closing highs. A slew of positive economic data along with reports that suggested researchers in China, as well as the team in UK, may be on the cusp of finding a treatment fuelled rally on Wall Street. Meanwhile, in European markets, the bull prolonged their upmove for a third-straight session amid favourable global manufacturing reports and some surprises in the services sector reports around the region.