Markets Next Week: Syrian Strikes May Rattle Markets

Business

oi-Sunil Fernandes

By Sunil Fernandes

Published: Saturday, April 14, 2018, 11:22 [IST]

The precision strikes by the US, France and the UK on Syrian targets may see markets sentiments turning sour next week, after seven straight days of gains. The Sensex saw its third weekly gain. For the week, Sensex gained 1.68 percent and Nifty climbed 1.44 percent.

On Friday, the US led strikes on select Syrian targets, largely having chemical weapons. Russia's ambassador to the U.S. warned there would be "consequences" for the strike on Syria, and that a "pre-designed scenario" was underway. If tensions escalate between Russia on the one hand and US, UK and France on the other, we may see stocks markets being rattled.

Results from Infosys, were more or less in line with expectations and the shares have seen a long build-up in the last few days. There may now be some selling pressure in the stock on Monday.

Infosys reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,690 crores which was largely in line with street expectations. On a sequential basis, profits of the company declined by 28% due to a one-off tax gain in Q3FY18.

The markets are now also likely to focus on the quarterly numbers that are due, including the likes of TCS, HCL and Reliance.

Another worry for the Indian markets is that crude prices may now rally, leading to more selling pressure in stocks. Indian stocks are very sensitive to rising crude prices and it is highly possible that we may see Brent Crude rallying past the $75 mark next week.

Oil marketing company stocks saw a dramatic drop in their prices after crude oil prices soared. BPCL, HPCL, Indian Oil and MRPL were the top losers from the space. The shares also dropped after the government asked OMC companies to absorb some hike in prices. It is going to be a volatile next week and investors would do well to stay away.

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