Market at open At 9:16 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 35,547, down 10 points while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,792, down 14 points. Rupee extends weakness: At 16-month low, trades at 67.75/$ Markets at pre-open Index Current Pt. Change % Change S&P BSE SENSEX 35,569.41 +12.70 +0.04 S&P BSE SENSEX 50 11,309.36 -4.83 -0.04 S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50 33,074.73 -298.71 -0.90 S&P BSE 100 11,116.44 -19.03 -0.17 S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index 3,610.16 -1.03 -0.03 (Source: BSE) Vote counting begins: Trends & Result at 8:55 am SPECIAL REPORT Investors pricing in Modi win in 2019; oil, rupee among key concerns: UBS Investors have priced in a “Modi win in 2019” as the base case and expect India’s economic growth to gain momentum in financial year 2018 – 19 (FY19), albeit with widening macro stability risks (inflation, current account deficit and fiscal deficit), suggests a recent report by UBS. The report, authored by Tanvee Gupta Jain, UBS’ economist, also highlights the key near-term risks investors are concerned about. Investors, it says, have also questioned the trends in household savings and the local flows in the backdrop of demonetisation READ MORE Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing at an election campaign rally in Mangaluru, Karnataka Oil near November 2014 highs firm as markets tighten amid OPEC cuts, Iran sanctions Oil prices held firm on Tuesday as ongoing production cuts by OPEC and looming US sanctions against Iran tightened the market amid strong demand. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $78.37 per barrel, up 14 cents from their last close and not far off a three-and-a-half year high of $78.53 a barrel reached the previous session.
The markets opened on a cautious note ahead of the Karnataka poll outcome.
The S&P BSE Sensex opened at 35,536 levels - down 3 points, while the Nifty50 opened flat at 10,800 levels, down 2 points.
Meanwhile, stock-specific action is likely to continue as the day progresses amid the release of March quarter results of companies. Among key results, Britannia Industries, Lupin, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals and Punjab National Bank are likely to announce their March 2018 quarter earnings later in the day.
In key economic data, India's trade balance data is likely to be released later today. On Monday, the widely-tracked consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation rate rose to a three-month high of 4.58 per cent, its wholesale price index (WPI) counterpart increased to a four-month high of 3.18 per cent in April.
"Lower food inflation and rising rural core inflation are indicating that the rural distress has not yet abated completely. Rise in core inflation and increasing upward risk to overall CPI (our expectation is 5.4-5.8% for FY19) is likely to prompt RBI to withdraw its Aug’17 25bps rate cut. However, we expect RBI to maintain status quo in Jun’18 policy while turning slightly more hawkish," said Dhananjay Sinha, Head, Institutional Research, Economist and Strategist at Emkay Global Financial Services in an emailed note.
GLOBAL MARKETS
In the global markets, Asia stocks pulled back on Tuesday, after an uninspiring performance on Wall Street eclipsed support from US-China trade optimism, while supply concerns kept crude oil prices near three-and-half year highs.
(with Reuters inputs)