Mr Mitul Shah, Head Of Research at Reliance Securities.
Domestic equities ended higher sparked by positive trends in the global indices, amid Thursday's weekly and monthly F&O expiry of April contracts. Nifty gained 1.1%, while broader markets underperformed in comparison to the main indices as Nifty MidCap and Nifty SmallCap rose 0.7% and 0.5% respectively. Most sectoral indices ended in green except Nifty Media which plummeted 3%. Nifty FMCG gained the most at 2.2%, followed by Nifty Bank and Nifty PVT Bank which were up 1.2% and 1.1% respectively. Moreover, investors awaited on earnings results whilst also following the news on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and resurgence of COVID cases.
U.S equities recouped gains and ended higher led by a rally in shares of tech giant Microsoft, after it reported a double-digit revenue growth. The Dow Jones rose 0.19%, the S&P 500 gained 0.21% while the Nasdaq dropped 0.01%. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 2.817%. Brent crude, increased 0.3% to end at $105.32 a barrel. Meanwhile, Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms, reported its slowest sales growth in a decade but surpassed Wall Street consensus forecast for its profits. Moreover, investors digested earnings reports and weighed concerns about inflationary pressures, the prospect of faster monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve and the surging cases of Covid-19 in China.
The market is likely to remain volatile this as traders roll over their positions in the F&O segment from the April series to May series. The next batch of Q4 results and management commentary, global stock market trends, and the movement of rupee and crude oil prices are likely to assess market sentiments in the near future. Moreover, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis and sanctioning of Russian products would have high negative bearings on global and Indian equities.