Global Macro Data, PMI, Fed Chair Powell's Testimony To Impact Market Sentiment, Say Experts

Markets are projected to react to crude oil prices, rupee movements against dollar, global trends, investment pattern from domestic or foreign investors, analysts said

Global market trends, foreign investors’ trading activity, and macroeconomic announcements at the domestic level would be the major factors driving the stock market in the trading week, analysts noted. The trading week ahead remains shortened owing to the holiday for Mahashivratri on Friday.

The stock markets exhibited a major bull run in the last week, driven by robust GDP data, reported PTI. The key benchmark indices made some new records last week, with the Sensex closing at 73,806.15 in the special session on Saturday. The Nifty, on the other hand, settled at a fresh peak of 22,378.40.

Elaborating on the outlook, Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd, stated, “Key upcoming events, such as the release of the US services PMI on March 5, 2024, testimony by the US Fed Chair Powell, along with the US unemployment rate on March 8 will be closely watched for their potential impact on market sentiment. Crude oil is also inching higher, and any negative surprise from there can disturb the mood of the market. However, the market is ignoring any bad news and continuing its bullish momentum.”

Other factors on the domestic front would be the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for the services sector scheduled for Tuesday in the week. Highlighting the trends, Arvinder Singh Nanda, Senior Vice President, Master Capital Services Ltd said, “This week market will react to the global and domestic economic data, FII/DII investment pattern, crude oil inventories, movement of the rupee against the dollar and trends in global stock markets.”

The stock markets remained open on Saturday as both the BSE and NSE conducted a special trading session in the equity and equity derivatives segment. The session was organised to determine the preparedness of the exchanges to manage major disruptions or failure at the primary sites. 

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, noted, “The release of additional data from the US, such as PMI and payroll data, along with inflation data from China, may influence market dynamics moving forward.”