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Informist, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025

By Akash Mandal

MUMBAI – Benchmark indices are likely to be subdued Friday following the volatile session Thursday due to the weekly expiry of the futures contract of the Nifty 50, analysts said. The broader trend is expected to be negative amid weak earnings growth and fears of the US imposing fresh tariffs against India. Investors are likely to react to the details of the joint press conference by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump scheduled for later Thursday. 

The Nifty 50 ended at 23031.40 points, down 13.85 points or 0.1%, and the BSE Sensex closed marginally lower at 76138.97 points, down 32.11 points. Though the indices were in the green for most of the session, they closed lower for the seventh straight session, declining around 3% during the period.

Headline indices still look weak directionally and might see further downside in the medium term, Nandish Shah, senior derivatives analyst at HDFC Securities, said. While the rise in indices Thursday might have been due to short covering, they ended lower which signifies a downtrend, Shah said. 

Other analysts also acknowledged the possibility of further downside. If the Nifty 50 convincingly breaches its Jan. 27 low of 22786.90 points, it might fall another 6-7%, Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of technical research at Religare Broking said. In the current market, negative triggers such as corporate earnings and expensive valuations will always overshadow positive triggers such as inflation, which is what happened in Thursday's session, Mishra said. Equity indices Thursday fell despite better-than-expected inflation print for January. The headline inflation moderated to a five-month low of 4.31% in January from 5.22% in December. 

Friday's session will be dull as investors will be "confused" regarding the direction the market might take, Mishra said. "Today also the charts were positive, but the gains seen intraday did not sustain... it is a very confusing market currently," Mishra said.

The earnings season is almost over and all of the top 200 listed companies will announce their quarterly results by the end of this week, except ABB India, which will report its quarterly results on Monday. Samvardhana Motherson International will detail its earnings for the December quarter on Friday. Its consolidated net profit is expected to rise 73% to INR 9.3 billion. The stock has ended in the green over the past couple of sessions and has gained nearly 1% in that period. Rail Vikas Nigam, Fertilizers & Chemicals Travancore, and Aditya Birla Fashion Capital will also report their earnings on Friday. 

Investors will also react to the earnings of Hindalco Industries scheduled later in the day. The company's results would draw the earnings season to a close for all Nifty 50 companies. The market will also assess the US unemployment data for the week ended Feb. 8, which will be released later Thursday. End

Edited by Saji George Titus

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