Market Ahead Podcast, Sep 6: Factors that could guide markets this week

After a spectacular rally recorded last week, Indian equities may consolidate during the holiday truncated week, and focus on global trends.

Markets will remain shut on Friday, September 10, on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Given this, tad bit volatility can be expected on Thursday as traders may want to go home with lighter positions to avoid any unforeseen global shocks, and amid weekly F&O expiry.

That apart, stock-specific news flow and Covid-19 trends will also be on investor radar.

Globally, developments around the US economy and the revival of activity in Europe amid rising Covid-19 infections would also guide the markets this week.

Last Friday, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex vaulted above the 58,000-mark while the Nifty50 kissed 17,300 as investors cheered green shoots in the economy.

Services, the dominating sector of India's economy, grew for the first time in four months in August as vaccine access improved and consumer footfall rose following reopening of several establishments.

The IHS Markit Services PMI rose to 56.7 last month from 45.4 in July, hitting a one and a half-year high.

What also drove the frontline indices to record peaks on Friday was a phenomenal rally in Reliance Industries.

Shares of India's biggest company by market cap zoomed 4 per cent on the bourses that day and hit a fresh peak of Rs 2,394. It's partly paid shares, meanwhile, surged 5.6 per cent to a new peak of Rs 1,751. 

Effectively, the company's total m-cap, inclusive of partly paid shares, is now around Rs 16 trillion.  

RIL will continue to remain in focus this week as the company is set to launch its JioPhone Next smartphone on Friday. As per a Bloomberg report, the phone could be the world's cheapest phone so far and may cost less than $50.

For now, the BSE Sensex is parked at 58,130, the Nifty50 is around 17,320, and the BSE Mid- and SmallCap indices are around 24,380 and 27,300 levels, respectively. During the past week, these indices gained in the range of 2.7-3.7 per cent.