Ahead of the market: 10 things that will determine stock market action on Monday

India’s benchmark indices ended lower on Friday, marking their first decline in 2025 after gains in the opening two sessions of the year. Heavyweight financials and IT stocks led the retreat as investors turned cautious ahead of the corporate earnings season, which begins next week.

The benchmark BSE Sensex closed down 720.60 points, or 0.90%, at 79,223.11, while the broader Nifty 50 index ended 183.90 points, or 0.76% lower, at 24,004.75.

Here’s how analysts read the pulse of the market:
Commenting on the day’s action, Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said a sell-on-rally sentiment prevailed in the market due to a stronger US dollar, higher valuations and a shift towards multi-asset investment strategies.

“The drop in US jobless claims and a possible policy shift in the US suggest that the FED is in no rush to cut interest rates in the near term. Looking ahead, the market is likely to focus on Q3 earnings, with expectations of earnings improvement on a QoQ basis,” Nair added.

US markets
US stocks rose on Friday in a holiday-shortened week marked by optimism around Federal Reserve rate cuts and pro-business policies from the incoming administration.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 339.86 points, or 0.80%, the S&P 500 rose 73.92 points, or 1.26%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 340.88 points, or 1.77%.

European markets
European stocks ended a holiday-shortened week in the red on Friday, led by losses in luxury goods and spirits makers. Investors focused on economic data for insights into the path of interest rates and possible policy changes under Donald Trump’s presidency.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.5% in light trading following the New Year holidays.

Tech View
The Nifty was unable to break above the 50 EMA in the daily timeframe, resulting in positive sentiment as the index closed above 24,000, said Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities.

“RSI shows a bullish crossover. On the upside, with a break above 24,220, the index may rise towards 24,200-24,220 and potentially push it towards 24,500. Conversely, a decisive move below 24,000 could take the index towards 23,700,” Day added.

Most active stocks in terms of turnover
ITI Limited (Rs 3,794.95 crore), Avenue Supermart (Rs 3,782.62 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 2,147.80 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 1,949.27 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 1,940.67 crore), ITC (Rs 1 ,73.67 crore), ITC (173.8 crore) Bank Rs 1,421.09 crore) was one of the most active stocks on the NSE in terms of value. High activity in a counter in terms of value can help identify counters with the highest trading turnover in a day.

Most active stocks in terms of volume
Vodafone Idea (traded shares: 46.41 crore), Yes Bank (traded shares: 9.95 crore), ITI Limited (traded shares: 8.92 crore), Bank of Maharashtra (traded shares: 6.31 crore), ONGC (traded shares: 4.97 crore), Zomato (traded shares: 4.82 crore) and Suzlon Energy (traded shares: 4.26 crore) was one of the most actively traded stocks in terms of volume on the NSE.

Stocks show interest in buying
Shares of ITI Limited, Saregama India, Avenue Supermart, PTC Industries, Lloyds Metals & Energy, Vijaya Diagnostic and Just Dial witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.

52 week high
Over 199 stocks touched their 52-week highs today while 23 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Among those touching their 52-week high were ITI Ltd, Lloyds Metals & Energy, Apar Industries, Otham Investment & Infrastructure, InfoAge, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences and FirstSource Solutions.

Selling pressure is seen in stocks
Zomato, Tanla Platforms, Angel One, Nalco, Godrej Industries, Ajanta Pharma and Century Textiles saw significant selling pressure.

Sentiment Meter Neutral
Market sentiment was neutral. Out of 4,103 stocks traded on BSE on Friday, 1,965 stocks declined, 2,032 stocks gained, while 106 stocks remained unchanged.

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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)