MARKET LIVE: Indices set to open higher; all eyes on Q1 GDP data

The domestic equity markets will today be guided by Q1 GDP print, infrastructure output data for July, Unlock-4 guidelines and the RIL-Future Group deal.

Today, the market will first react to Reliance Industries' acquisition of retail & wholesale business and the logistics & warehousing business of the Future Group. Apart from that, the focus will also be on the June quarter GDP data which will be released by the National Statistical Office today. Estimates of decline in GDP are going up to 35 per cent due to the impact of lockdown amid the pandemic, although the statistics office may show only a 15-16 per cent fall because it does not have the data on the informal sector and uses proxies for that. READ MORE

Among other economic data points, Infrastructure Output for July will also be released today.

Market participants may also react to the Union Home Ministry's decision to issue the Unlock 4 guidelines under which metro trains will be allowed to resume services from September 7 in a graded manner. READ MORE

Results today

A total of 115 companies including JK Cement and Spandana Sphoorty Financial, are scheduled to announce their quarterly earnings today.
 

Global cues
 

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 per cent to reach its highest since June 2018. Tokyo's Nikkei rallied 1.9 per cent.The next event of note in Asia will be China’s official manufacturing PMI survey for August. In commodity markets, Brent crude was last trading 0.57 per cent higher at $46.07 per barrel.