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The stock markets last week oscillated back and forth and finally settled in green, after recovering the losses made on the last trading day. On Friday, the key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty closed in gains and rebounded. The BSE Sensex gained almost 200 points higher and stood at 72,832, while the NSE Nifty50 closed trading at 22,097, higher by 85 points.
The markets will remain closed on Monday to observe a holiday for the festival of Holi. In the remaining week, investors will observe macroeconomic data such as the quarterly GDP figures for the US and current account, and external debt data for India, set to be released in the week.
The United States will also release its home sales, durable goods orders, personal income, and spending numbers in the week. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will deliver his speech on Friday and give an insight into the inflation outlook and interest rate cuts ahead.
Official data from the depositories revealed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) poured in over Rs 38,000 crore in Indian equities in the month so far, as of March 22. The investors continued to exhibit bullish sentiments on the debt market and infused Rs 13,223 crore in the segment in the period under review.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, elaborated on the debt market sentiment and said, “The fundamental reason for this sustained FPI flows into debt is the inclusion of Indian bonds in the JP Morgan EM Bond Fund and Bloomberg Bond Index, which is expected to bring investment of around $25 billion. This investment will begin only by June 2024, and therefore, FPIs are doing some front running in view of this potential investment.”