Sensex up 150 points, Nifty above 10,800 ahead of key economic data

Benchmark equity index BSE Sensex gained about 150 points on Monday, ahead of key macroeconomic data set to be revealed through the week.

At 9.42 am, the BSE Sensex was trading 127.48 points or 0.36% higher at 35,571.15, while the broader NSE Nifty was up 46.95 points or 0.44% to trade above the key 10,800 mark at 10,814.60.

Gains on the 30-share strong BSE gauge were led by Bharti Airtel, SBI, Adani Ports,Yes Bank, Dr. Reddy’s, Sun Pharma , Asian Paints and Reliance Industries, with gains of up to 2.15%.

Powergrid, Axis Bank, Hero Motocorp, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and Infosys were the major losers in the Sensex pack in early morning deals, trading as much as 0.86% lower.

Markets this week will be guided by a host of key macroeconomic data points, including the industrial production numbers for April, global cues, trend in crude oil prices and progress of monsoon, say experts.

“Going ahead, the focus would be on the US Fed policy meeting where it is widely believed that it will hike interest rates,” said Sanjeev Zarbade Vice President - Research, Kotak Securities.

“Also of interest would be, the ECB meeting in which it is being expected that the monetary body may signal a path towards end of the stimulus programme. Markets would also await IIP and CPI data to get a sense of the domestic macro trends,” he added.

“Progressing monsoon and positive outlook on rural market is giving a boost to the economy, which is already showing signs of improvement. Additionally, cues from economic data like CPI, IIP and WPI will also be a determining factor in the market movement,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Market experts said that the near term market trend will be dictated by domestic macro data like IIP, CPI and WPI, movement of crude oil prices and currency (INR vs USD) and progress of monsoon.

“In the coming week, the market will be looking forward to IIP data, manufacturing production and inflation. This will be very important and may set the tone for June month,” said Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research.

On the global front, all eyes will be on FOMC meeting, Nadeem added.