What are the major stock market triggers for the coming week starting on 27-December?

Here are the major cues for the stock market in the coming week.

· Last week, the Nifty was up for 3 out of last 4 days due to what is popularly called the Santa Claus rally towards the year end as FPIs largely stayed neutral during the week. However, the seriousness of the Omicron gets underlined with the PM address and that could be the big overhang with cases rising in Europe and also in India.

· Markets are likely to be tentative being the last expiry of 2021 and a lot will depend on whether longs get rolled over. However, the falling VIX hints at a buy on dips scenario and the options accumulation data hints at a Nifty range of 17,000 to 17,500.

· The IPO scene is light with no new IPOs. However, 3 IPOs viz. HP Adhesives, Supriya Lifesciences and CMS Infosystems will list in the week. With no IPOs and FPIs selling in secondary markets, the onus falls on domestic investors to hold the markets.

· In big macro data cues, core sector for November will be announced on 31-December and markets will watch if core sector sustains above 2019 levels. Auto sales is likely to remain week for December also due to the microchip shortage.

· In key macro indicates, the current account balance for Q2 will be announced and the deficit could widen in Q2. Among other key data points, focus will be on the forex reserves after the import cover of forex reserves looks set to fall below 100% mark.

· In broad trends, mid-caps and small caps remained under pressure and that is likely to continue as large caps hog the limelight. Among sectors, the interest in FMCG, IT and pharma stocks is likely to continue like the previous week.

· Major US data points focus will be on Housing price index, pending home sales, jobless claims, MBA mortgage applications. For rest of the world, data focus will be on Japan unemployment rate, retail sales, IIP data; China focus to be on Evergrande crisis.