3 key factors to drive markets this week

Domestic equities will be mainly driven by global market trends, foreign institutional investors' movement and developments around new Covid variant Omicron this week, according to analysts.

Markets traded under pressure last week following weak global cues and overall investor sentiment remained downbeat throughout the week, they observed.

"Global markets, Omicron variant, dollar index and FIIs' behaviour will be key factors to drive the market this week," said Santosh Meena, head of research, Swastika Investmart Ltd.

One major event last week was US Federal Reserve's announcement that it will end bond-buying from March, and it also signalled starting rate hike cycle thereafter.

"The selling can be attributed to hawkish Fed, rising worries of Omicron, rupee weakness, and most importantly relentless selling by FIIs," Meena added.

"In absence of any major event, global cues will dictate our market trend.

"Participants are keeping a close watch on the Covid situation due to the new variant and related updates will continue to induce volatility in days to come," Ajit Mishra, VP Research, Religare Broking, said.

"Negative global cues, continued FII selling, absence of any positive trigger and increasing cases of Omicron are likely to continue putting pressure on the market," said Siddhartha Khemka, head - retail research, broking & distribution, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

During the last week, the BSE benchmark tumbled 1,774.93 points or 3.01 per cent.

The Sensex plummeted 889 points on Friday in line with a selloff in global markets amid hawkish central banks and rising Omicron cases.

Yesha Shah, head of equity research, Samco Securities said, "In the absence of major domestic events, market will seek indications from global indices and macroeconomic data, such as the US GDP growth rate, to decide its movement.

"As global macros are expected to dominate, investors should keep an eye on FII activity to assess trends and stick to a stock-centric investing strategy in the midst of range-bound index moves."