FIIs inflow to dictate trend next week: Experts

Mumbai, Apr 28: After closing in the red on the last day of the week, markets may remain range-bound next week, as traders will most probably hesitate to take fresh positions due to an abridged week, experts say.

Markets will remain officially closed on Tuesday and Wednesday on account of both being public holidays.

''Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have pumped in a lot of money into Indian stocks this month. Their buying picked up after Information Technology (IT) major Infosys issued a strong guidance for financial year (FY) 2008 on April 13, putting to rest concerns of a US economic slowdown on the IT sector. FII inflow in this month (till April 26), has reached Rs 6,874 crore. Interestingly, FIIs had pulled out a net of just Rs 1,082 crore in March this year,'' market analyst observed.

The major fourth quarterly (Q4) results scheduled next week are Reliance Communications (RCL) and Hindustan Lever on Monday, i-flex Solutions on Tuesday, HDFC on Thursday, and Hindalco on Friday, experts disclosed.

Also, the outcome of the ongoing seven-phased Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections is a key political event to watch out for. The Assembly poll gets over in early May this year. The outcome of this cow-belt polls is seen as a barometer of national political trends.

With global oil price surge in recent weeks, there are talks that the government may hike retail prices of petrol and diesel once the UP elections are over, traders speculated.

Besides, although the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept interest rates steady at the moment, market men feel that the pause may just be a temporary measure, inflation still stubbornly remains high at around 6 per cent.

UNI