Ahead of Market: 10 things that will decide stock market action on Friday

The Indian market ended higher on Thursday, driven by domestic investors buying into oversold stocks, with financials advancing after the Reserve Bank of India announced a $21 billion liquidity infusion into the banking system, and energy stocks rallying on lower crude prices. Market sentiment also improved following U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary tariff reprieve on auto imports from Mexico and Canada.

The benchmark BSE Sensex added 609.86 points or 0.83% to close at 74,340.09, while the broader Nifty 50 index closed at 22,544.70, higher by 207.40 points or 0.93%.

Here's how analysts read the market pulse:

The Indian indices exhibited resilience, owing to positive global cues following Trump’s softened tariff stance on automakers from Canada & Mexico amidst the weakening dollar index, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

“Additionally, a correction in crude oil prices, influenced by a slowdown in demand and further economic stimulus from China, ignited optimism in the energy and metals sectors. Gains were further supported by strength in heavyweight banking and consumption stocks driven by improved liquidity conditions," Nair said.

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US markets

Wall Street's main indexes fell on Thursday, led by a decline in chip stocks as Marvell's forecast fanned worries of slowing demand for AI infrastructure, while worries about a trade war unleashed by U.S. tariffs also weighed on sentiment.

Marvell fell 18.5% after the chipmaker forecast first-quarter sales in line with analysts' average estimate, which failed to excite investors who had expected stronger AI-driven growth.

Peers Broadcom and Nvidia also fell, pulling the broader chip index down over 3%. The broader S&P 500 technology sector lost 1.7%.

Megacaps such as Microsoft and Meta declined about 0.9% each.

Concerns about overspending and overcapacity in the U.S. AI industry, in the face of China's cheaper DeepSeek models, paused Wall Street's bull rally in January.

Financials fell 1.6%, with big banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley down over 2.3% each.

European Markets

European shares fell on Thursday as elevated long-term bond yields pressured equities and outweighed optimism around the European Central Bank's decision to cut interest rates.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.7% at 1330 GMT.

The ECB reduced interest rates as expected and signalled more cuts may be in store as inflation normalizes, even as a looming trade war with the U.S. and plans to boost military spending drive Europe's biggest economic policy upheaval in decades.

The German government's 10-year bond yields jumped to 2.86% after recording their biggest daily rise in more than 25 years the day before, as investors expected a sharp increase in Bund supply due to more fiscal spending.

Tech View

The Nifty continues to rise, filling the recent gap on the daily chart, said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, adding that the RSI is recovering from a historical low and is currently in a bullish crossover.

“In the short term, the sentiment appears to favor the bulls. On the higher end, the index may move towards 23,750–23,800. The sentiment is likely to remain strong unless the Nifty falls below 22,300," De added.

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Most active stocks in terms of turnover

HDFC Bank (Rs 2,779 crore), BSE (Rs 2,106 crore), Infosys (Rs 1,814 crore), Castrol India (Rs 1,798 crore), Reliance Industries Ltd (Rs 1,735 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 1,454 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 1,185 crore) were among the most active stocks on NSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.

Most active stocks in volume terms

Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 29.43 crore), Tata Steel (Traded shares: 7.91 crore), Castrol India (Traded shares: 7.39 crore), YES Bank (Traded shares: 7.22 crore), Easy Trip Planners (Traded shares: 5.82 crore), Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 5.60 crore) and SAIL (Traded shares: 3.46 crore) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on NSE.

Stocks showing buying interest

Shares of Chennai Petroleum Corp, Godawari Power & Ispat, Castrol India, Jyoti CNC Automation, Jindal Saw, Lloyds Metals & Energy and CreditAccess Grameen were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.

52 Week high

Over 56 stocks hit their 52 week highs today while 93 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows.

Stocks seeing selling pressure

Stocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were Kalyan Jewellers India, J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, Craftsman Automation, Bharti Hexacom, Cello World, Coforge and Tech Mahindra.

Sentiment meter bullish

The market sentiments were bullish. Out of the 4,103 stocks that traded on the BSE on Thursday, 990 stocks witnessed declines, 3,006 saw advances, while 107 stocks remained unchanged.

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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)