<p>This week, the focus will shift toward stock-specific action as July-September FY24 earnings would begin, with TCS announcing results on 11th October, followed by Angelone, HCL Tech, and Infosys. Thus, the IT sector will be in the limelight for the week.</p>.<p>Domestic equities are likely to continue with their consolidation as global cues remain uncertain and couple of important data points are set for release. Investors would react to crucial US Non-Farm payroll and Unemployment data for the month of September, which got announced last friday as that would be crucial from a US monetary policy perspective. Investors would also eye inflation data to be released from US, China, Europe and India along with industrial production data from Europe and India.</p>.<p>Last week, market consolidated in a range with Nifty ending with minor gains at 19,654 levels. Broader market was mixed with Midcap100 down 0.6 per cent while Smallcap100 gained 0.7 per cent. Sector-wise, it was a mixed bag with Realty and IT gaining ~2 per cent each while Auto, Metals, Pharma and energy lost 1-2 per cent. The realty sector gained following healthy pre-quarterly business updates released by developers along with promising growth outlook shared by CREDAI on the sector. Even housing Finance stocks gained after media report that the Finance Ministry has approved a Rs 60,000 crore incentive scheme for urban housing.</p>.India has emerged as our top international market: Malaysia Airlines' commercial chief.<p>RBI maintained status quo in its monetary policy, on expected lines. It kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent and retained the FY24 GDP growth forecast at 6.5 per cent. However, the governor kept a hawkish tone on liquidity management stating that they might consider Open Market Operations sales, which led India’s 10-year government bond yield to rise to a six-month high.</p>.<p>Investor sentiments got a boost post the release of healthy economic data points along with robust pre-quarterly updates by the corporates. Domestic services PMI data for the month of September came in at nearly a 13-year high. However, India’s manufacturing activity saw some moderation to five-month low of 57.5. On the other hand, the GST collections remained robust at Rs.1.62 lakh crore, indicating strong economic growth.</p>.<p>On the global front, sharp spike in U.S. Treasury yields and dollar index has been taking a toll on equity markets, turning investors cautious. Release of strong US jobs data further added to concerns as it shows the resilience of the labor market in the US, raising the expectations of additional rate hikes. However, the treasury yields cooled off a little following a sharp fall in brent crude prices. This helped the markets recover a little but uncertainties still continue.</p>.<p>Global headwinds along with persistent FIIs selling has pulled the Nifty down by 4 per cent from recent record highs. Overall, we expect the market to remain range-bound with bouts of volatility given the global concerns. Market direction going ahead will depend upon the combination of global/local macros and earnings delivery along with management outlook. But we expect sectors like Travel & Tourism, Hotels, Consumers, and QSR, to remain in momentum as the World Cup 2023 began last week in India, which is expected to have a positive impact on them.</p>.<p><em>(The author is head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited)</em></p>
<p>This week, the focus will shift toward stock-specific action as July-September FY24 earnings would begin, with TCS announcing results on 11th October, followed by Angelone, HCL Tech, and Infosys. Thus, the IT sector will be in the limelight for the week.</p>.<p>Domestic equities are likely to continue with their consolidation as global cues remain uncertain and couple of important data points are set for release. Investors would react to crucial US Non-Farm payroll and Unemployment data for the month of September, which got announced last friday as that would be crucial from a US monetary policy perspective. Investors would also eye inflation data to be released from US, China, Europe and India along with industrial production data from Europe and India.</p>.<p>Last week, market consolidated in a range with Nifty ending with minor gains at 19,654 levels. Broader market was mixed with Midcap100 down 0.6 per cent while Smallcap100 gained 0.7 per cent. Sector-wise, it was a mixed bag with Realty and IT gaining ~2 per cent each while Auto, Metals, Pharma and energy lost 1-2 per cent. The realty sector gained following healthy pre-quarterly business updates released by developers along with promising growth outlook shared by CREDAI on the sector. Even housing Finance stocks gained after media report that the Finance Ministry has approved a Rs 60,000 crore incentive scheme for urban housing.</p>.India has emerged as our top international market: Malaysia Airlines' commercial chief.<p>RBI maintained status quo in its monetary policy, on expected lines. It kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent and retained the FY24 GDP growth forecast at 6.5 per cent. However, the governor kept a hawkish tone on liquidity management stating that they might consider Open Market Operations sales, which led India’s 10-year government bond yield to rise to a six-month high.</p>.<p>Investor sentiments got a boost post the release of healthy economic data points along with robust pre-quarterly updates by the corporates. Domestic services PMI data for the month of September came in at nearly a 13-year high. However, India’s manufacturing activity saw some moderation to five-month low of 57.5. On the other hand, the GST collections remained robust at Rs.1.62 lakh crore, indicating strong economic growth.</p>.<p>On the global front, sharp spike in U.S. Treasury yields and dollar index has been taking a toll on equity markets, turning investors cautious. Release of strong US jobs data further added to concerns as it shows the resilience of the labor market in the US, raising the expectations of additional rate hikes. However, the treasury yields cooled off a little following a sharp fall in brent crude prices. This helped the markets recover a little but uncertainties still continue.</p>.<p>Global headwinds along with persistent FIIs selling has pulled the Nifty down by 4 per cent from recent record highs. Overall, we expect the market to remain range-bound with bouts of volatility given the global concerns. Market direction going ahead will depend upon the combination of global/local macros and earnings delivery along with management outlook. But we expect sectors like Travel & Tourism, Hotels, Consumers, and QSR, to remain in momentum as the World Cup 2023 began last week in India, which is expected to have a positive impact on them.</p>.<p><em>(The author is head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited)</em></p>