Insight: Markets' upward bias likely to continue

The week gone by had one day of correction and one day of solid gains. The remaining three days were flat but volatile and choppy. BSE SENSEX gained 376.77 points or 1.05% to close at 36,386.61 points. NIFTY was up 112 points or 1.04% to close at 10,906.95 points.

Dow Jones gained 710.40 points or 2.96% to close at 24,706.35 points. The government continues to remain shut down as the Democrats are unrelenting now with Trump behaving in a manner unbecoming of the president. Things are unlikely to get sorted out soon.

Results from the large companies are on track and are seeing positive movement post declaration of their results. After the IT giants TCS and Infosys, it was the turn of Reliance and Hindustan Unilever this week. Even Wipro reported a good set of numbers and the share gained.

SEBI has advised Larsen and Toubro that its buyback offer is not in compliance with section 68(2)(d) in terms of the net debt and has therefore advised the company not to proceed with the buyback offer. This would put pressure on the share when trading begins on Monday. Shares of the company lost Rs 52 or 3.80% during the week and closed at Rs 1,318.

Sun Pharma has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in the last few quarters. This time around the media whether print or electronic is talking about a second letter from the whistle-blower. The company has written to SEBI and asked them to investigate the matter. Meanwhile the shares of Sun Pharma were on the receiving end and lost significant ground. Shares were down Rs 52.45 or 11.83% at Rs 390.75.

Markets are likely to continue their upward bias in the coming week. Corporate results seem to be positive and they could provide the trigger for the week. The biggest trigger however is the fact that people want to short any rally and hence we witness high intra-day volatility daily. Refrain from shorting the market.