Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 27 points gain.
Indian stock market is expected to open in the green despite rising COVID-19 cases and strained US-China relations. Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 27 points gain.
On July 24, Sensex ended 12 points, or 0.03 percent lower at 38,128.90 and the Nifty closed 21 points, or 0.19 percent, down at 11,194.15. Better-than-expected corporate earnings, reports of potential vaccine developments and massive stimulus package announcement by the EU underpinned market sentiment.
According to pivot charts, key support level for the Nifty is placed at 11,114.53, followed by 11,034.87. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 11,249.63 and 11,305.07.
Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:
US Markets
Wall Street retreated on Friday, heading into the weekend with a broad sell-off due to weak earnings, surging coronavirus cases and geopolitical uncertainties.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 182.44 points, or 0.68%, to 26,469.89, the S&P 500 lost 20.03 points, or 0.62%, to 3,215.63 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 98.24 points, or 0.94%, to 10,363.18.
Asian Markets
Asian shares came under pressure in early Monday trade as tit-for-tat consulate closures in China and the United States fanned worries about worsening diplomatic ties between the world’s two largest economies. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.3%, re-opening after a long weekend. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat.
SGX Nifty
Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 27 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 11,203 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.
Oil slips as rising coronavirus cases
Oil prices edged down on Monday as rising coronavirus cases and tensions between the United States and China pushed investors toward safe-haven assets. Brent crude dipped 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $43.24 a barrel by 0041 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $41.24 a barrel, down 5 cents.
Indian Economy will continue to face inflationary pressures in near term: Report
The Indian economy is likely to face inflationary pressures in the near term, as factors like supply chain disruption and lack of low-wage workers are expected to offset the deflationary pressures from subdued demand in the economy, says a report.
According to Dun & Bradstreet's latest Economy Forecast, inflationary pressures are building up both from the demand and the supply side. Dun & Bradstreet expects the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) to have increased from 5.7 percent to 5.9 percent during July 2020.
RBI to set up Rs 500 cr payments infra development fund
The Reserve Bank is setting up a Rs 500-crore payments infrastructure development fund to subsidise deployment of points of sale acceptance infrastructure with an initial corpus of Rs 250 crore. The move is part of the central bank's payment systems vision 2019-21 which envisages creating an acceptance development fund which is rechristened the payments infrastructure development fund. The fund would help subsidise deployment of points of sale machines and the related infrastructure, it said in the Financial Stability Report released on Friday.
India's Forex reserves climb $1.27 bn to record peak of $517.637 bn
India's foreign exchange reserves surged by $1.275 billion to touch a fresh lifetime high of $517.637 billion in the week to July 17, RBI data showed. In the previous week, reserves had swelled by $3.108 billion to $516.362 billion.
In the week ended July 17, the reserves rose due to an increase in foreign currency assets (FCA), which is a major component of the overall reserves. FCA was up by $1.245 billion to $476.880 billion in the reporting week, the central bank data showed.
SEBI asks depositories to record all types of encumbrances
Markets regulator SEBI on Friday asked depositories to put in place a system for capturing and recording all types of encumbrances. The SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeover) Regulations requires promoters of a company to disclose details of their encumbered shares.
SEBI noted that apart from pledge, hypothecation and non-disposal undertakings, currently there is no framework to capture the details of other types of encumbrances in the depository system. Accordingly, it has now been decided that depositories will put in place a system for capturing and recording all types of encumbrances, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a circular.
FPIs withdraw Rs 86 crore from Indian market in July so far
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers in Indian markets in July so far on account of both domestic and global factors, including rising number of coronavirus cases and increasing tension between the US and China. According to the depositories data, overseas investors invested Rs 2,336 crore in equities but pulled out Rs 2,422 crore from the debt segment, leading to net outflows of Rs 86 crore from Indian markets between July 1-24.
Debt MFs see Rs 1.1 lakh crore inflow in June quarter on investment in liquid schemes
Driven by investments in liquid schemes as also banking and PSU funds, debt mutual funds saw an inflow of Rs 1.1 lakh crore in three months ended June 2020 after witnessing massive redemptions in the preceding quarter.
Most individual categories that invest in fixed-income securities, or debt funds, saw inflows. However, credit risk, overnight, ultra-short duration, medium duration and dynamic bond funds saw withdrawals. The positive inflow pushed the asset base of debt mutual funds to Rs 11.63 lakh crore at June-end from Rs 11.5 lakh crore at the end of March, according to data with Association of Mutual Funds on India.
Banks' gross NPA ratio may rise to 12.5% by March 2021: RBI
Sounding alarm bells for the economy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said the problem of bad loans plaguing the Indian banking sector could worsen towards the end of the ongoing fiscal year. The central bank said the gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio of the country's scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) may increase from 8.5 percent in March 2020 to 12.5 percent by the same period next year, under the baseline scenario. This ratio could, however, soar to 14.7 percent under severe economic stress.
In its Financial Stability Report, the RBI highlighted that the gross NPA ratio fell from 9.3 percent in September 2019 to 8.5 percent by the end of FY20. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic and financial disruption that followed halted the slow improvement that had been achieved in reducing the overhang of stressed assets.
NCDEX to launch options in goods for 3 agri commodities today
The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) will launch options in goods for three commodities -- mustard seed, wheat and maize -- on Monday. Contracts expiring in the months of October and November will be available for trading from July 27 onwards in all three commodities, NCDEX said in a webinar on Sunday.
With options in goods, contracts will be completed only through compulsory delivery on the day of the settlement.
RBI may go in for further 25 bps rate cut: Experts
The Reserve Bank is likely to go in for a minimum 25 basis points cut in key lending rate in the forthcoming monetary policy review as the need to revive the coronavirus-hit economy is pressing notwithstanding marginal uptick in inflation, feel experts. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor, is scheduled to meet for three days beginning August 4 and announce its decision on August 6.
Higher prices of food items especially meat, fish, cereals and pulses pushed the retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) to 6.09 per cent in June. The government has tasked the RBI to keep inflation at 4 per cent (+, - 2 per cent). The central bank mainly factors in CPI while arriving at its monetary policy.
ICICI Bank Q1 profit jumps 36%
India's second-largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on July 25 reported Q1 FY21 profit at Rs 2,599.1 crore, a growth of 36.2 percent year-on-year backed by some stake sale in general and life insurance subsidiaries. But the additional COVID-19 related provisions of Rs 5,550 crore limited the profit growth.
Net interest income during the quarter increased by 20 percent to Rs 9,280 crore compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, with loan growth of 7 percent and strong deposits growth of 21 percent YoY. Domestic loan book grew by 10 percent in June quarter with retail loan portfolio growth at 11 percent, while growth in the performing domestic corporate portfolio was about 8 percent YoY, the bank said in its BSE filing.
Results on July 27
Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra, Marico, Bharat Electronics, United Spirits, Aptech, Escorts, Havells India, Hindustan Media Ventures, HSIL, Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys, India Cements, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, MM Forgings, Nippon Life India Asset Management, Orient Electric, Pfizer, Tejas Networks, V-Guard Industries, etc.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 409.88 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,002.98 crore in the Indian equity market on July 24, provisional data available on the NSE showed.
10 stocks under F&O ban on NSE
Adani Enterprises, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, GMR Infrastructure, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vodafone Idea, National Aluminium Company, RBL Bank, Steel Authority of India and Sun TV are under the F&O ban for July 27. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.
With inputs from Reuters & other agencies