With Iran firing a barrage of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday, risking escalation in the Middle East and beyond, analysts believe that Dalal Street is bound to see bloodbath when the market opens on Monday.
"This week promises to be crucial for the market as fresh worries about a potential conflict between Iran and Israel emerge. Any significant escalation in tensions could trigger panic selling and volatility in global equity markets. The market will also be closely monitoring the movement of crude oil prices, which are often impacted by geopolitical events," Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd, told PTI.
Quarterly earnings reports of TCS will drive the trends on Monday after the tech giant released its numbers for the January-March quarter on Friday. TCS reported a 9 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 12,434 in the quarter, mainly due to strong domestic business despite struggling overseas markets.
Other market heavyweights like Infosys, Bajaj Auto, and Wipro will release their quarterly earnings figures, guiding the markets towards the end of next week. Like the previous week, stock market will be open only for four days since Ram Navami falls on Wednesday.
Agreeing with Meena, Geojit Financial Services Head of Research Vinod Nair said, "Investors are closely monitoring Q4 earnings and geopolitical events, which are poised to shape market direction.”
Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, also echoed other analysts, saying the spate of negative news from the global front would at times halt the Indian equities' upward march.
Major macroeconomic data likely to impact the market include China's GDP data, US retail sales figures, movements in the US bond yields and the dollar index, according to Meena.
Arvinder Singh Nanda, Senior Vice President, Master Capital Services Ltd, told the agency, “The outlook for the market will be guided by the major global and domestic economic data, India's WPI inflation data and WPI manufacturing data, China GDP growth rate, US manufacturing production and US initial jobless claims.”
