What in your view are the major weekly cues for the next week starting on 21st March and how do you see the Nifty and Sensex?

Here are some of the major cues to watch out for in the coming week.

· During the previous week ended 17-March, the Nifty bounced 3.94% while Sensex was up by 4.16%. This comes on top of previous week’s gains. The smaller indices were relatively subdued. The mid-cap and small cap indices gained just about 2% as most of the fresh buying and the short covering gravitated in favour of the large caps.

· Fed hiked rates by 25 bps and promised another 6 rate hikes in 2022. As a result, the RBI is likely to withdraw its accommodative stance and hike rates by 25 bps when it meets in early April. Brent Crude closed the week at $108/bbl, with a late bounce from the $100/bbl levels. Going ahead, the level of $100/bbl will be a decisive support for oil.

· The war situation in Russia and Ukraine is worsening. After the assault on Kiev, Russian forces are targeting Mariupol with hypersonic weapons. The other negative trigger is the emerging COVID situation in China, where the rise in COVID cases resulted in large scale lockdowns. This again raises supply chain questions globally.

· FPIs finally turned net buyers on 16th and 17th March. However, for March till date, FPIs still remained net sellers to the tune of Rs.41,617 crore. What enthused markets was the basket buying by Vanguard Fund, wherein the index funds and ETFs poured in Rs.2,277 crore into 19 Indian stocks. This is a hint of buying aggressively by passive funds.

· On the IPO front, Paytm price will be the guide to forthcoming digital IPOs after the stock fell 73% from IPO price. Meanwhile, markets await final word from DIPAM on LIC IPO dates, hopefully by 12-March when the approval expires. Next week, FPO of Ruchi Soya opens and Uma Exports IPO opens on 28-March; so some signs of IPOs returning.

· US data focus on MBA mortgage, new home sales, Powell speech, durable orders, jobless claims and PMI Composite. In ROW markets data focus on EU PMI, construction output, ECB General Council meet; Japan BOJ policy minutes and PMI Composite. For India, the focus will be on change in forex reserves and the VIX stability signals.