'Investors to focus on factory and services activity'

In two weeks, markets witnessed a consolidation phase and experts said this momentum is expected to continue. One of the experts even went on to say that Nifty will touch its previous lifetime high in the coming weeks.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, “The index (Nifty) is now just 380 points or 2 per cent away from its lifetime high. With result season nearing its end, the focus will now shift to macro data, US debt negotiations and upcoming central bank policy meetings. Talking about the coming week, Ajit Mishra, Vice-President Research, Religare Broking, said, “The coming week marks the beginning of the new month also so participants will be eyeing high-frequency data viz. auto sales, manufacturing PMI and services PMI data. Before that, the GDP data, scheduled on May 31, will also be on their radar. Apart from these factors, the performance of the US markets amid the ongoing debt ceiling talks will be in focus.” 

According to Ajit Mishra, markets ended a 2-week long consolidation phase and gained over one and a half per cent.

He said, “After a firm start, the benchmark remained range bound in the middle, tracking mixed global cues; however strong recovery in the final sessions changed the tone.”

“Consequently, Nifty managed to surpass the hurdle at 18,400 and settled around the week’s high at 18,499.30 levels. All sectors contributed to the move wherein metal, pharma and IT were the top gainers,” Mishra said, adding, “The buoyancy continued on the broader front, with the midcap index scaling to a new high.”