Dalal Street Week Ahead: RBI policy, auto sales, global PMI data among 10 key factors to watch

Overall, the first week ahead of the new financial year FY25 is expected to be positive for the market with focus on auto sales data, manufacturing & services PMI numbers, RBI interest rate decision, and expectations for March FY24 quarter earnings, experts said.

The market had a strong close for the truncated week ended on March 28, as the benchmark indices gained 1 percent with participation from most sectors barring IT after consolidation in previous couple of weeks. In fact, the monthly expiry session for March derivative contracts had a good rally, indicating the market may be inching towards a record high soon.

Overall, the first week ahead of the new financial year FY25 is expected to be positive for the market with focus on auto sales data, manufacturing & services PMI numbers, RBI interest rate decision, and expectations for March FY24 quarter earnings, experts said.

The Nifty 50 rallied 230 points to 22,327, and the BSE Sensex jumped 819 points to 73,651, while the broader markets had a better week than benchmarks as the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices gained 1.6 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, the market performance for the fiscal year 2023-24 was quite strong with the Nifty 50 surging 28.6 percent, and the Nifty Midcap 100 index up 60 percent & Smallcap up 70 percent.

"Overall, we expect the market to continue its positive momentum with a focus on large-cap. With the start of the election in April, we believe government-centric stocks to be in focus. Auto stocks are likely to be in the limelight next week amid the release of monthly auto sales numbers," Siddhartha Khemka, head - retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services said.