Domestic markets likely see another lacklustre day on Tuesday, despite settlement around the corner for derivative monthly contracts on the NSE. SGX Nifty at 17,790 indicates a flat opening for domestic markets as Nifty April futures on Monday closed at 17,763.90 and May futures at 17,821.65.

The market is trading in a wider range and has consistently shown strength at lower levels. “We expect the market to remain range bound with positive bias driven by results from index heavyweights. This week, companies having nearly 18 per cent of Nifty weightage, are scheduled to announce their results,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

US stocks ended overnight mixed with Dow and S&P500 ending with marginal gain, while Nasdaq slipped.  “Wall Street wavers as investors await mega-cap tech earnings, looming debt ceiling drama, and a few key US data points that will influence Fed officials,” said Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst, The Americas OANDA. He added, “Over the past month, stocks have rallied on expectations that any of the big risks on the table will force the Fed’s rate cutting hand.”

“Big tech has been outperforming this year as Wall Street expects rate cuts to provide relief to the battered sector. Speculation on rate cuts has fueled bets that sent the multiple for the S&P 500 tech index to trade at almost 25X future earnings. For the rally to continue, we need to see a few hundred basis points in rate cuts, which is not necessarily going to happen if the Fed chooses inflation over financial stability over the next year,” he added.

Also read: The bear market in IT stocks and waiting for the happy hours

In early morning deal, most Asia-Pacific stocks are down marginally, though Japan’s Nikkei ekes out small gain.

In the absence of global cues, analysts expect investors to focus on domestic macro and micro figures. So, the attention will be on corporate result announcements. As FPIs turned sellers in the last few days, analysts expect Indian institutions will anchor the market movement.

In derivatives segment, FII’s have covered their short positions in the April series and their ‘Long Short Ratio’ has improved from 10 per cent at the start of this month to 38 per cent.

“While we are approaching the monthly expiry, it will be crucial to see if the index manages to hold above 17,500 support and if it breaks 17,700 on the upside, then it could lead to a resumption of the short term uptrend,” said Ruchit Jain, Lead Analysts, 5Paisa Capital.

According to Khemka, investors would also keep an eye on key global events viz. Bank of Japan interest rate decision and GDP data for several important economies, including the US, Eurozone, Germany, France, and Italy, which would announce their Q1 GDP data during the week, would provide an indication on global economic health.

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