Market Ahead Podcast, Oct 4: Factors that could guide markets this week

A host of global and domestic triggers are set to dominate market trends this week. A combination of slowing growth, hawkish tone by central banks, China power crisis, fading fiscal stimulus, and nagging supply-chain bottleneck hit global equities last week, flagging concerns of a long-due market correction.

Overall, analysts believe energy woes emanating from China will likely dominate the markets in the near term.

Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, warns investors to be prepared for higher energy prices and more pressure on OPEC from Washington to pump more oil, despite the Joe Biden administration’s decarbonisation agenda.

Although back home, Gaurang Shah, senior vice-president at Geojit Financial Services, believes the crisis will be temporary.

Nonetheless, the benchmark Sensex and Nifty declined over 2% each during the past week and ended at 58,765 and 17,532 levels, respectively.

According to the F&O data, the broader 50-share index is likely to trade within a range of 17,300 to 17,800 this week. The index can fall to 17,000 levels if it breaches the support level of 17,350. As regards the Nifty Bank index, it will trade between 36,500 and 37,500.

Among domestic triggers, the Reserve Bank of India’s three-day monetary policy meeting, Services PMI data, and September quarter earnings will sway the markets this week.