Factors that will guide the markets this week

Stock markets will be driven by domestic inflation data, ongoing quarterly earnings from corporates and global trends this week, analysts said.

News flows around the general election would also be tracked by investors, market experts said.

Besides, investors would also take cues from the trading activity of foreign investors, the movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude and the rupee-dollar trend.

"Investors will be bombarded with economic data on both domestic and global fronts.

"Domestically, watch for Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI). Globally, focus will be on the US Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures.

"Additionally, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech will be a key event to watch.

"China's industrial production data and Japan's GDP figures round out the important releases for the week," said Santosh Meena, head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd.

Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said that the current trend in the domestic markets is likely to continue in the short-term due to election-led uncertainties.

"In the data-hectic week ahead, investors' attention will be focused on the release of India and US CPI data, Europe and Japan's GDP releases, and the FED chair speech.

"Furthermore, the next set of Q4 results will also attract market sentiment," he added.

DLF, Zomato, Bharti Airtel and Mahindra & Mahindra are among the major companies scheduled to announce their earnings during the week.

"The outlook for the market will be guided by major global and domestic economic data, India's WPI inflation data, US PPI data, Core CPI data, initial jobless claims, Japan's GDP data, India Q4 company results and speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell," Arvinder Singh Nanda, senior vice president, Master Capital Services Ltd, said.

"Overall, we expect the market to consolidate in a broader range and take cues from Q4 results, global factors and news flows around the general election," said Siddhartha Khemka, head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Last week, the BSE benchmark tanked 1,213.68 points or 1.64 per cent, and the Nifty declined 420.65 points or 1.87 per cent.

Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said, "Despite the negative local sentiment, the strength observed in global markets, particularly in the US, has been instrumental in curbing the pace of decline.

"It's essential for investors to closely monitor both global market performance and local factors for market cues."