Wake Up Call: Nifty 50 looks to sustain above 18,000 ahead of earnings-heavy week, US Fed decision

Bulls regain control! |

Nifty closed above 18,000 on Friday at a two-month high. It is up 670 points in the last one month.

Both foreign and domestic investors buy in cash on Friday | The domestic international investors (DIIs) net bought Rs 264.27 crore in cash, while the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought Rs 3,304.32 in cash.

Globally, investors are watching for any news on the US debt ceiling | US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned the US may run out of measures to pay its debts as early as June 1. The US FOMC meeting starts on May 2, and the US Fed chairman Jerome Powell would make the announcement on May 3. The US Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, to a range of 5 percent-5.25 percent, the highest level since 2007

Auto sales for April are a mixed bag | Maruti reported total sales growth of 6.5 percent year-on-year at Rs 1.60 lakh, led by 8.5 percent growth in domestic sales. Hero MotoCorp saw a fall of 5.3 percent sales to 3.96 lakh units from the previous year's 4.18 lakh units. TVS Motor's sales were up 4 percent year-on-year at 3.06 lakh units.

Big week of earnings | Ambuja Cement and Tata Steel will report their earnings on Tuesday, whereas Titan will report its earnings on Wednesday. On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp, CEAT, Dabur and TVS Motor's earnings will come out on May 4 and Britannia, Marico and Bharat Forge's will be out on May 5.

Strong Kotak Mahindra Bank earnings | The market is also likely to react positively to very strong earnings from Kotak Mahindra Bank, which reported its highest-ever NIM at 5.75 percent from last year's 4.78 percent. It also saw an NII growth of 35 percent year-on-year at Rs 6,102 crore. Its asset quality improved, and GNPA ratio was at 1.78 percent compared to 1.9 percent.