Week Ahead: Inflation data, Q3 results, global cues among key market triggers this week

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Also Read: Nifty February series outlook: 4 stocks where investors can park their money; do you own? "When valuations are high, the bears will use any negative news to drag the market down," said Dr VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, referring to "slightly hawkish comments" from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor on Thursday. The RBI kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday, as expected, and signaled rate cuts may not be imminent. The BSE benchmark fell by 723.57 points or one per cent to settle at 71,428.43 on Thursday amid uncertainty about the timing of interest rate reduction after the RBI policy decision.

The Nifty declined by 212.55 points or 0.97 per cent to 21,717.95. On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark declined 490.14 points or 0.67 per cent, and the Nifty dipped 71.3 points or 0.32 per cent. The broader, more-domestically focused small-caps closed flat, while mid-caps added 0.85 per cent for the week.

Both indexes logged their worst session in more than two weeks on Friday. ‘’Post the hawkish commentary from the US Fed and RBI and their focus on bringing inflation under control, next week's inflation data would be important data to watch out for. We expect the market to turn cautious and consolidate in the near term amid key macro data to be announced and the last leg of Q3 results,'' said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.