Earnings, crude oil, Jio IPO key monitorables for investors next week

"Indian equities enter the coming week with improved momentum following two consecutive weekly advances and a strong recovery led by information technology stocks. The sustainability of this move remains to be established. Elevated crude oil prices, geopolitical uncertainty, global bond market movements and uneven market breadth continue to warrant caution. "Investors are likely to focus on whether the recent rally broadens beyond IT stocks and whether the benchmark indices can sustain their gains above immediate resistance levels," Ponmudi R, CEO - Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

The proposed Jio Platforms IPO, which will open on October 21, is another key event to watch, particularly for its potential impact on liquidity and investor allocation, he added. Stock markets will be closed on Tuesday for Dussehra. The country's largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank on Saturday reported 5.55 per cent increase in consolidated net profit for the September quarter to Rs 20,700 crore, pointing out that the impact on treasury operations restricted profit growth.

ICICI Bank clocked 22.28 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 16,333.18 crore for the September quarter from Rs 13,357.06 crore a year ago. Axis Bank has reported a 39.4 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 7,704.67 crore in the second quarter of 2026-27, supported by higher core income and improvement in asset quality. "Banking stocks will be in focus following the weekend results from HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

With the Q2 FY27 earnings season gathering pace, stock and sector-specific action is likely to continue, with Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Zinc, Union Bank of India, IREDA, Infosys, Coforge, Crisil and Swiggy among the companies scheduled to report results this week," Siddhartha Khemka - Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said. Jio Platforms, the digital and telecom arm of Reliance Industries, has set a price band of Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,119 per share for its IPO that could raise about Rs 30,213 crore at the top end of the range, making it India's largest.

The IPO, comprising a fresh issue of up to 27 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each, opens for subscription on Wednesday, October 21, and closes on Friday, October 23. Last week, the BSE benchmark Sensex surged 2,256.94 points, or 3.11 per cent, and the NSE Nifty jumped 625.7 points, or 2.77 per cent. "On the global front, movements in US Treasury yields, crude oil prices and geopolitical developments will remain important market drivers, given their implications for imported inflation, the rupee and corporate profitability.

FII activity and currency movements will also be closely watched to assess the sustainability of the recent recovery," Ajit Mishra, SVP Research, Religare Broking, said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel First Published: Oct 18 2026 | 12:55 PM IST