Global cues to drive stock markets this week, say analysts Omicron

Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd., was quoted by the news agency as saying, “Global market, Omicron variant, dollar index and FII behavior will be the key factors to drive the market this week.” PTI,

A key event last week was the US Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would end bond-buying from March, and signaled the start of a rate hike cycle thereafter.

Noting that the overall investor sentiment remained weak throughout, Meena said: “The selling can be attributed to hawkish Fed, rising concerns of Omicron, weakness in rupee and most importantly continued selling by FIIs.”

During the last week, the BSE benchmark lost 1,774.93 points or 3.01%.

Sensex tumbled 889 points on Friday as global markets sold off amid rising cases of central banks and Omicron.

Religare Broking VP Research Ajit Mishra echoed Meena’s views.

“In the absence of any major events, global cues will determine our market trend. Participants are closely monitoring the COVID situation due to the new version and related updates will continue to create volatility in the days to come,” he said.

Siddharth Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Broking and Distribution, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd., said: “Negative global cues, continued FII selling, absence of any positive trigger and rising Omicron cases are likely to continue to put pressure on the market. “

Yesha Shah, Head of Equity Research at Samco Securities, said: “In the absence of major domestic events, the market will seek cues from global indices and macroeconomic data, such as US GDP growth rates, to decide its movement. As with global macros. Expected to dominate, investors should monitor FII activity to gauge trends and stick to a stock-centric investment strategy amid limited index moves.”

With inputs from agencies.