Markets look towards Fed meet for cues

Ahead of the first phase of Gujarat elections, expectations of BJP win along with strong mutual fund flows and positive global cues post Brexit deal helped markets resume their north-bound journey posting biggest weekly gains since early November.

The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed 417 points and 144 points higher at 33,250 and 10,266 respectively.

Bank Nifty moved up by 129 points to close at 25,321. Advance of the S&P BSE mid-and smallcap indices by 1.7 per cent and 1.1 per cent reflects ‘exuberance’ in the broader market.

It is pertinent to observe that in contrary to strong buying from domestic institutions, FIIs were sellers for better part of the week ended.

In a rare move by the government to take over the management of a firm to protect investor interest, NCLT suspended the eight directors on the board of troubled real estate company Unitech and allowed the government to appoint its nominee directors. The move reminds similar management takeover of Infotech major Satyam and sends strong signals to errant promoters.

The price of a bitcoin soared from under $10,000 to more than $17,000 before slumping back to around $15,000. Like many bubbles, prices are being driven by greed or the fear of missing out.

Near-term trend will be dictated by US Federal Reserve meet, crude oil prices, macro data and outcome of the Gujarat assembly elections.

For the week ahead, chartists predict trading range of 32,650-33,750 and 10,075-10,450 for the indices.