Quarterly earnings, RBI policy review to dictate trend

The focus of investors next week will be on January-March 2012 quarterly earnings and the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy. The major near-term trigger for the market is Q4 March 2012 and year ending March 2012 (FY 2012) earnings. Investors will focus on the guidance provided by the management for the year ending March 2013 (FY 2013) to gauge the earnings outlook.

CRISIL, Castrol India and MindTree unveil their quarterly results on Monday, 16 April 2012. VST Industries, SKF India and IFCI unveil their quarterly results on Tuesday, 17 April 2012. HDFC Bank, HCL Technologies and CMC unveil their quarterly results on Wednesday, 18 April 2012. Ambuja Cements, ACC, IndusInd Bank, Tourism Finance Corporation of India and Hindustan Zinc unveil their quarterly results on Thursday, 19 April 2012. Cairn India, Honeywell Automation India, Mastek, Fag Bearings India, Merck and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur unveil their quarterly results on Friday, 20 April 2012.



The next major event next week is the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy review on Tuesday, 17 April 2012. Investors are hoping that RBI may cut its key policy rate to spur economic growth after the latest data showed that industrial production grew by lower-than-expected 4.1% in February 2012.

After raising interest rates 13 times since early 2010, the central bank indicated in December its next move would be a reduction. Since January 2012, RBI slashed the cash reserve ratio (CRR) - the percentage of deposits that commercial banks must keep with central bank - by a combined 125 basis points, but has left rates on hold.

Shares of three air carriers -- SpiceJet, Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways (India) -- will be watched as the Union Cabinet is likely to meet next week to consider the proposal to let foreign airlines buy stake in local carriers.