Investors will draw cues from the December quarter corporate earnings, with blue-chip businesses such as Infosys and Reliance Industries set to announce results this week. Furthermore, inflation statistics and foreign investor trading activity will play an important role in shaping market patterns, according to analysts. Investors will closely monitor the movement of crude oil prices and the dollar index. Last week, investor confidence was hurt by the US dollar’s strengthening and rising bond yields.
The upcoming week is expected to be turbulent for the Indian equity markets as investors anxiously await the publication of key businesses’ Q3 earnings results. Leading companies like Infosys, Reliance Industries, HCL Technologies, HDFC AMC, HDFC Life Insurance Company, and Axis Bank will soon release their financial results, which will probably have a big effect on market sentiment, according to Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst at Swastika Investmart Ltd.
CPI and WPI Inflation Data
The macroeconomic data that will be announced this week, such as the CPI and WPI inflation rates, will be eagerly watched by the market. The December 2024 CPI and WPI data are expected to be released on January 13 and January 14, respectively. Since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be reviewing policy following the Union Budget in February, the headline inflation figure is important for determining interest rates.
After exceeding the RBI’s upper tolerance band of 6% in October 2024, India’s retail inflation (CPI) decreased to 5.48% in November as a result of a surge in fresh agricultural products that helped stabilize vegetable prices. Core inflation stayed constant at 3.7%, while food inflation decreased month over month to 9.04%. Due to a sustained decline in food costs over the winter, analysts at Emkay Global project the December CPI to be between 5.3% and 5.4%. While headline inflation is predicted to be 4.9% in FY25E, core inflation is predicted to be 3.5% and stay below 4% in the upcoming months.
