Ahead of Market: 10 things that will decide stock market action on Monday

Indian equity markets extended their decline following the prior session’s relief rally, as escalating US-Iran tensions disrupted key Middle Eastern oil and gas supplies, driving crude prices higher. Analysts say a sustained rise in oil prices could weigh on investor sentiment and adversely affect India’s twin deficits, inflation trajectory, and the RBI’s monetary stance. An uptick in the US 10‑year bond yield and a stronger dollar have prompted FIIs to adopt a risk‑off approach toward domestic equities.

Here’s how analysts read the market pulse:

“While geopolitical tensions remain a near‑term overhang, selective value‑buying opportunities are expected to emerge, offering long‑term investors attractive entry points,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments.

European Markets

European stocks slipped on Friday as the US-Iran war drove fresh concerns about oil supplies, prompting traders to rethink their expectations for central bank rate cuts. Europe’s STOXX 600 index dipped ⁠0.15% in ⁠choppy trading, undoing an earlier rise of almost 0.5% as oil prices appeared to stabilise.

Tech View

The broader structure remains weak, and any pullback is likely to attract selling pressure. Momentum indicators and oscillators remain in sell mode on both the daily and weekly charts. Meanwhile, India VIX surged another 11% to close near the 20 level. Any further rise in volatility could intensify the downside risks.

Most active stocks in terms of turnover

Mazagon Dock (Rs 3,155 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 3,013), HDFC Bank (Rs 2,970 crore), RIL (Rs 2,729 crore), LT Foods (Rs 2,436 crore), SBI (Rs 2,345 crore) and Commercial Engineering (Rs 2,207 crore) were among the most active stocks on BSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with the highest trading turnovers in the day.

Most active stocks in volume terms

Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 45,08,40,141), Commercial Engineering (Traded shares: 7,59,37,223), Ircon International (Traded shares: 6,71,15,792), Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 6,30,58,597), YES Bank (Traded shares: 6,15,93,487), LT Foods (Traded shares: 5,63,52,435) and Reliance Power (Traded shares: 5,06,62,050) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on BSE.

Stocks showing buying interest

Commercial Engineering, Kirloskar Bros, Ircon International, Radico Khaitan, United Breweries, Bharat Dynamics and Aegis Vopak were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.

52 Week high

Among the ones that hit their 52-week highs were MRPL, Data Patterns, Kirloskar Oil, ABB Power, BEL and Astra Poly Tech.

Stocks seeing selling pressure

Among the names which witnessed significant selling pressure were LT Foods, Tejas Networks, Vedant Fashions, Godrej Properties, Mahanagar Gas, Ashok Leyland and Suven Pharma.

Sentiment meter favours bears

Out of the 4,374 stocks that traded on the BSE on Friday, March 6, 1,812 stocks witnessed advances, 2,396 saw declines, while 166 stocks remained unchanged.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)