Stock markets likely to remain bullish; Q3 earnings eyed

FII investments, movement of rupee against dollar and crude oil to influence trading

Stock markets are expected to remain bullish in the week ahead and corporate earnings from blue-chips like ITC and HUL would continue to dictate the trend on the bourses, say experts.

Apart from this, investment trend by overseas investors, movement of rupee against the dollar and crude oil price would also influence trading.

Among companies, the major corporate earnings this week are from Hindustan Unilever, Hindustan Zinc, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ITC, Cairn India and UltraTech Cement.

"We expect the markets to remain upbeat in the upcoming trading sessions and remain bullish over medium term as the markets await some more action from the RBI in its upcoming RBI monetary policy in first week of February," said Hiren Dhakan, associate fund manager, Bonanza Portfolio.

Marketmen said the RBI's surprise rate cut may result in more gains for interest rate-sensitive shares in forthcoming trading sessions.

On the global front, outcome of European Central Bank (ECB) meeting will be watched along with other global factors, experts said.

"Movement of index in near term will depend on Q3 results of large-cap companies like ITC, HUL and Ultratech Cements. In near term, Nifty is likely to remain volatile but is expected to continue its uptrend as overall breadth of the market is positive," said Vivek Gupta, CMT - Director Research, CapitalVia Global Research Limited.

Over the past week, the BSE benchmark Sensex rose by 663.51 points to end at 28,121.89. This is its best weekly rise since October 31, 2014.