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Informist, Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026

By Arundathi A R

MUMBAI – Analysts expect the domestic equity market to hold the positive momentum for short term despite the price of crude oil rising to $115 a barrel. Market participants will largely focus on the news flow from the global front, tracking US-Iran peace talks and opening of the Strait of Hormuz. The corporate results of the March quarter will also be in focus.

In the latest development, US President Donald Trump has threatened Iran to "better get smart soon" in his Truth Social post. "Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!," Trump posted. The post was accompanied by an artificial intelligence-generated picture of Trump holding a gun with explosions in the background, and the words "NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!" CNBC reported.

Wednesday, the Nifty 50 settled at 24177.65, up 181.95 points or 0.8%. The BSE Sensex settled at 77496.36, up 609.45 points or 0.8%. Analysts expect the Nifty 50 to face resistance at 24200–24300 and find support at 24000–23950. At 1713 IST, the June futures contract of Brent Crude traded 3% higher at $114.57 per barrel.

"Moreover, markets will closely track cues from the US Fed policy outcome, with sentiment likely to remain volatile amid evolving global developments and sector-specific earnings trends," Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investment, said in a note.

"India's earnings may paradoxically hold out better than the economy in a more adverse scenario," Kotak Institutional Equities said in its report. The brokerage sees the macroeconomic outlook will worsen progressively in a non-linear manner at higher crude oil prices. With the escalating crude oil prices, most analysts are estimating a double-digit impact on earnings and see earnings downgrades in the first quarter of 2026-27 (Apr-Mar).

Analysts are divided in their view on the domestic equity market's current valuation levels. While most analysts opined that the valuations are better, some see them in an expensive zone. Kotak said the valuations of the Indian equity market, sectors, and stocks are at comfortable levels after the correction since the start of the West Asia war. However, they are not good enough to generate investment interest, the brokerage said.

Foreign investors are not expected to turn into large buyers in the near term until the global crisis gets resolved, analysts say. They continued with their selling spree on Tuesday, by offloading shares worth INR 21.04 billion. Domestic investors remained net buyers. They bought shares worth INR 17.12 billion in the previous session.

Crude oil prices breached $115 per barrel, and continuous foreign outflows pushed the rupee to close at a record closing low against the dollar Wednesday. The Indian rupee settled at 94.8450 a dollar on Wednesday, down 0.3% from its previous close. "The trend remains weak, with the currency consistently facing selling pressure on rebounds, indicating a lack of strong support at higher levels," Jateen Trivedi, vice president of commodity and currency at LKP Securities, said in a note. 

The Nifty 50 constituents, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, and Adani Enterprises, will detail their March quarter results Thursday. The consumer goods industry major, Hindustan Unilever, is expected to post a decent volume growth in the quarter. This was expected to be supported by price hikes in January and the rollover effect of lower goods and services tax.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone is expected to report consolidated net profit of INR 33.15 billion, up 9% on year. The port operator's consolidated revenue for the quarter is seen at INR 98.46 billion, which is a growth of almost 16% on year.  End

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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